NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. - For the first time in program history, Concordia-St. Paul cracked the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division II Top-25, earning the #25 ranking in the organization's final poll for the 2020 season.

Additionally, the program had been ranked three consecutive weeks in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division II Women's Top-20, starting with the 16th spot before moving up to 14 and bumping back to 16th in the country in the most recent published poll by US Lacrosse Magazine's website on March 9.

Concordia, led by first year interim head coach Joe Nelson, finished the season 5-2 overall while completing its non-conference portion of the schedule. The early season success included a win over #14 Colorado Mesa for the team's first-ever win over a nationally-ranked Division II opponent when CSP topped the Mavericks 15-4 on Friday, February 21 at the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium. It was part of a school record best 4-0 start to the season that also started a new program record 5-game home winning streak including last year's home GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal win.

CSP's only two losses in 2020 were also to nationally-ranked programs, falling 14-12 to #6 Regis on a neutral field and 14-9 at #10 Tampa two days later. The team's spring trip, and regular season, ended with another big victory, beating Florida Tech 11-10 in overtime on the road. The Panthers were the only team listed receiving votes by the IWLCA's final 2020 poll and were ranked #25 following their loss to Concordia. Florida Tech also moved up to #18 in the Nike/US Lacrosse Top-20 following the CSP loss.

While no league games were played in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference (GLIAC), Concordia led the league with five non-conference victories and had a league-best +42 goal margin while netting a league-high 98 goals.

Senior goalie Katie Lottsfeldt led the league with an 8.09 goals against average, ranking 14th nationally, and was tied for the league with a school record 50.0 save percentage which ranked 18th in the country.

Senior Alina Boyce was second in the league with 25 points, tied for third in the league with 18 goals and junior Lex Seifert was fourth in the conference with nine assists and averaging a program season record 1.29 per game. Seifert also set the single game assists record with five in teh win over Colorado Mesa (2/21). 

On the draw, junior Sarah Pierson led the team and ranked 25th in the nation with a school record 5.71 draw controls per game and was also second on the team in goals (16) and points (16). She had nine draw controls twice, coming up one shy of Lexi Stanley's single game record of 10 set last year, with Stanley also coming up with nine draw controls in a game this year and finishing second on the team with 32 draw controls for an average of 4.57 which second all-time in the program only to Pierson. Stanley also holds the career records for draw controls (109) and caused turnovers (57) and is second in ground balls (91).

As a team, Concordia finished the year ranked sixth nationally with 13.71 caused turnovers per game, ninth with 25.0 ground balls per game, 16th in scoring defense (8.0 goals against average), 21st in draw controls (15.9/game), 22nd in save percentage (.491) and 24th in scoring margin (+6.0/game).

The team featured seven four year seniors in 2020, with each playing significant roles across their entire careers in helping the program to its best season despite the abrupt conclusion.

A number of seniors have etched their names all over the career record books and will be highlighted throughout the spring as cspbears.com begins to feature seniors across all of its spring sports for their contributions to Concordia as student-athletes.