ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse (4-5) returns home to the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium this Friday night, hosting Northern Michigan (6-2) on Friday at 6 p.m. in the 2022 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference (GLIAC) opener.
It's a matchup between the GLIAC Preseason Poll third and fourth ranked programs in the league, with Northern Michigan edging CSP with nine points to CSP's eight.
Last year, NMU finished 4-4 and third in the league while CSP was 2-6 and in fourth. In 2019, CSP was fourth (7-4) with NMU in seventh (3-8) and in CSP's first year in the league in 2018, the Golden Bears finished ahead of NMU in fifth (4-8) with the Wildcats in sixth (1-11).
In addition to finishing higher than NMU in two of the three years of GLIAC play in the all-time series, Concordia holds a 6-2 all-time record against the Wildcats, but like in the league standings, NMU holds the recent upper hand after sweeping a pair of tight games last year, 16-15 in overtime and 13-10 at the NMU Dome in Marquette, Michigan.
BUY TICKETS ONLINE
Concordia-St. Paul is no longer a cash-only ticket operation, fans can buy their tickets online prior to entering the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium. Buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the
partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.
PARKING & DOME INFO
Parking at the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium is restricted to painted parking spots. There is no parallel parking in any of Concordia's on-campus parking spots. Please do not use the snow-covered track & field throws area to turn around, vehicles must remain on the paved parking lot when turning around.
The Concordia Dome does not allow outside food or drink. Water is allowed, but please leave snacks, food and flavored beverages in your vehicle.
The Concordia Dome and Sea Foam Stadium is a pet-free facility. Please do not bring your pets to CSP lacrosse games.
Thank you for adhering to our game environment policies.
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear home lacrosse games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups.
NSIC NETWORK FAQ
All home games feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by
Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.
Learn more about Flanagan on the latest CSP Bears Podcast.
Many away games will be streamed and feature live stats to follow online, as well. Links will be posted to the CSP Bears schedule as well as the CSP Bears fan app, when available.
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
EARLY SEASON RANKING RECOGNITION & TOP-25 NOTES
The Golden Bears have now been featured in a national poll for three straight years, drawing "also considered" status in four consecutive versions of the Nike/USA Lacrosse Top-20 Division II rankings before dropping off the list in this week's rankings. Concordia opened the 2021 season ranked 16
th in the Nike/USA Lacrosse poll and remained ranked in the top-20 the first three weeks before slipping to the receiving votes column in the March 15 poll.
The IWLCA Top-25 Coaches' Poll, the default rankings used on cspbears.com, continues to list CSP in the "receiving votes" section of the poll, debuting in the first published in-season poll on February 28 and returning to the receiving votes each of the last two weeks, including this week despite a 4-5 record in non-conference play – a nod to the squad playing a challenging non-conference schedule with competitive results against top competition.
CSP has been featured in both polls the previous two years, and has eight games on the current schedule against IWLCA Top-25 programs, giving the team a chance to score some nationally-ranked victories throughout the season. So far, CSP is 0-4 against ranked teams in 2022 with four remaining, two each against #10 Grand Valley State and #24 Davenport in league play.
CSP fell 10-9 to #9 Regis in the season opener, 20-13 to #1 Lindenwood, the defending DII national champions, 13-6 to #18 Seton Hill and 14-6 at #8 Rollins. CSP led 8-7 in the fourth quarter at Regis, held an 8-7 halftime lead over Lindenwood, scored first and held the lead for over half of the first quarter and held a 2-1 lead late in the first quarter at Rollins, carrying a tie midway through the second quarter.
The Golden Bears are 1-22 all-time against national-ranked opponents, scoring their first win over a ranked team on February 21, 2020 at home against #14 Colorado Mesa (15-4). They've been within five goals four times including once this year. CSP has dropped its last nine against ranked opponents.
LAST TIME OUT: CSP GOES 0-3 ON FLORIDA SPRING TRIP
Concordia went to Florida for a three game spring trip last week, facing a challenging lineup of opposition, #18 Seton Hill (Pa.) at a neutral site, unranked Stonehill (Mass.) on a neutral field and #8 Rollins (Fla.) in an away game.
While CSP went 0-3 on the trip, the continued growth and competition against top programs was on display, holding first half leads against all three opponents.
On the week,
Delaney Davidson led the team with 10 points including eight goals while
Maddy Seifert (4g, 1a) and
Molly Moynihan (1g, 4a) each had five points.
Mary Keating led the team with eight draw controls and
Lily Walesheck led the defense with seven ground balls and four caused turnovers, with Molly and
Katie Moynihan each adding four caused turnovers, as well.
Candace McDole drew all three starts in the net, registering 28 saves on the week and leading the team with 11 ground balls and six caused turnovers.
EARLY SEASON TEAM RANKINGS
Through nine non-conference games, Concordia continues to rank highly among the 100 NCAA Division II women's lacrosse programs, below is a breakdown:
- 24th – caused turnovers per game, 11.56 (2nd GLIAC)
- 27th – ground balls per game, 20.56 (1st GLIAC)
EARLY SEASON INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
With six games under their belts, the Golden Bears have put up some strong early season totals to their names atop the national leaderboard, below is a breakdown of the team's national ranking listed first, and the GLIAC ranking listed in ():
DAVIDSON NETS 100TH CAREER GOAL (edited 3/18)
Senior transfer
Delaney Davidson is off to a strong start to the season, scoring 25 goals in the first nine games, netting at least two goals in every game this season.
The big start has put Davidson over the 100 mark for her career including her previous stops, below is a breakdown:
2017 (FR), Iona College: 5 goals
2018 (SO), Indianapolis: 66 goals
2019 (JR), Indianapolis: 6 goals* (edited 3/18)
2022 (SR), Concordia: 25 goals
TOTAL (41 games): 102 goals
COMMON OPPONENTS
Concordia and Northern Michigan enter conference play having faced a similar slate of opponents in the non-conference: Lindenwood, Quincy, Rockhurst, Missouri Western. CSP holds a 3-1 record while NMU went 2-2, with both teams losing to defending champion Lindenwood, with the difference being CSP defeating Rockhurst 19-8 on a Sunday in St. Paul prior to the Hawks topping NMU 15-12 on the following Tuesday in Kansas City.
In the four games, CSP holds a 65-41 goal margin while NMU's goal margin is 52-52. Concordia's goal margin was better in all four common opponent matchups, as well.
ABOUT NORTHERN MICHIGAN
The Wildcats are off to a 6-2 start to the 2022 season and riding a 4-game winning streak through the end of their non-conference schedule. Madeline Bittell leads the team with 34 points including team-highs of 25 goals, nine assists and 29 draw controls. Maddi Best is second on the team with 19 goals and Emily Renfrew adds 18 points with 17 goals and an assist. Lauren Rygiel leads the defense with 17 caused turnovers and 15 ground balls, adding 22 draw controls.
In the net, Aliyah Smukala has started seven of the eight games (346:30), holding a 5-2 record with a 11.08 goals against average, 24 saves and a .273 save percentage while facing 114 shots. Cam Stilson, the starter the previous three seasons, has played in six games with one start (115:04), holding an 8.86 goals against average, .261 save percentage, six saves against 32 shots faced with a 1-0 record.
