MINOT, N.D.- The fifth-seeded Concordia-St. Paul women's soccer team (10-6-3) upset fourth-seeded Minot State (11-6-2) 1-0 on Wednesday evening at Herb Parker Stadium to advance to the NSIC Soccer Tournament semifinals. It is the second straight time that the Golden Bears have advanced to the conference semifinals.
The Golden Bears will head to top seed and host #6 Bemidji State (17-0-2) on Friday at 2 p.m. at Chet Anderson Stadium, with the winner heading to the NSIC Championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. against the #25 Minnesota State/Augustana semifinal winner.
Head Coach
Steve Bellis commented on the night, recognizing the match would be close "as predicted ... with very few chances. We knew if we kept defensively strong, which we did, we would get an opportunity to get the goal. The team showed lots of grit tonight again."
Corynn Grabau proved to be the hero of the match with a late goal in the 86th minute to give the CSP squad a 1-0 lead over Minot State. The goal by the freshman forward was her fifth goal of the season, giving her 13 points to place her in third on her squad for points.
The game-winning goal was assisted by junior defender
Ciara Bailey and sophomore midfielder
Sophie Pawlyshyn, with Grabau rebounding Pawlyshyn's saved attempt from the right, sending it in from the left side of the box.
Bailey earned her first assist of 2021, giving her five total points. Through 90 minutes played, the defender also had two shots and one shot on goal.
Pawlyshyn is now tied for first on her squad with
Katie Anderson, each with 14 total points. Through only 78 minutes played in Minot, she managed an additional one shot and one shot on goal.
The goal came just a few minutes after freshman goalkeeper
Ashlyn Waldon came up with a clutch save off of a free kick just outside the box, with defender
Tori Miller quickly clearing it out to the sideline to preserve the tie with around eight minutes to play.
Offensively, the Bears had 12 shots and placed nine shots on goal. Anderson led the Bears with four shots and three shots on goal. The Bears also controlled possession 52% of the match and had a total of six corner kicks.
Defensively, Bailey, Miller, and
Cayla Renwick all played the full 90 minutes. The backline held the Beaver offense to nine shots and five shots on goal, compared to their averages of 13.2 shots and 6.9 shots on goal per game.
For Waldon, it was her fourth career shutout and her first postseason shutout. In her sixth game started, she faced nine shots and made five saves, improving her goals against average to 0.29 and her record to 4-0-2, allowing just two goals across her six starts. She's logged three straight shutouts and has blanked the opposition over the last 319:35 of play.
As the team looks ahead to the next step in the postseason, Coach Bellis added, "We are so excited to get another go at Bemidji."
The teams played to a 2-1 result in favor of BSU on September 26 at Sea Foam Stadium, with Concordia controlling the pace with 17 shots to BSU's nine, including a 10-2 margin in corner kicks.
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