ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse (4-6, 0-1 GLIAC) embarks on a three game road swing through the GLIAC starting this weekend against a pair of nationally-ranked opponents, #10 Grand Valley State (8-1, 0-0 GLIAC) on Friday at 2 p.m. (central) in Allendale, Michigan and #23 Davenport (7-1, 0-0 GLIAC) on Sunday at 11 a.m. (central) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The weekend marks the GLIAC openers for Grand Valley against CSP and Davenport against Upper Iowa, and an opportunity for the Golden Bears to snap a four game skid and secure the program's first-ever road win against a nationally-ranked team.
FORECAST
Friday's game at Grand Valley State features a high of 45 with a chance of showers later in the afternoon and a 14 mile per hour wind from the west. Cold conditions are expected on Sunday at Davenport in Grand Rapids, with a high of 31 degrees and a 15 mile per hour wind from the northwest.
WATCH ONLINE
This weekend's games are scheduled to feature live video broadcasts produced by the host institution, as well as live stats for those who are unable to make the trip to Michigan to watch in person.
EARLY SEASON RANKING RECOGNITION & TOP-25 NOTES
The Golden Bears have now been featured in a national poll for three straight years, currently featured in the "receiving votes" section of the IWLCA Division II Top-25 Coaches' Poll. CSP has been receiving votes in the national top-25 for four consecutive weeks.
The Golden Bears were also featured in the "also considered" section of the Nike/US Lacrosse Top-20 Division II rankings for four consecutive weeks from February 14 to March 7.
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 #23 Davenport in league play starting with road games to the Michigan schools this weekend.
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 in the final margin four times including once this year. CSP has dropped its last nine against ranked opponents.
LAST TIME OUT: CSP DROPS GLIAC OPENER TO NMU
In a closely contested match between Northern Michigan and Concordia at the Concordia Dome, Northern Michigan used a 5-0 scoring run to open the fourth quarter to pull away from the Golden Bears. The game featured three lead changes and five ties in the first 23-plus minutes of play and the largest lead of the first half was two goals, with lead staying at three goals or less until NMU's early fourth quarter scoring run.
Molly Moynihan led Concordia with five points on three goals and two assists while
Delaney Davidson continued her run of 2-plus goal games with a three goal performance. Moynihan also led the team with three draw controls, while
Maddy Seifert had two goals, four caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls.
Defensively,
Lily Walesheck had a big night with six ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Candace McDole had a strong performance in the cage, registering 13 saves with a .565 save percentage.
EARLY SEASON TEAM RANKINGS
Through 10 non-conference games, Concordia continues to rank highly on defense among the 100 NCAA Division II women's lacrosse programs, below is a breakdown:
- 19th – 21.00 ground balls per game (1st GLIAC)
- 21st – 12.00 caused turnovers per game (1st GLIAC)
EARLY SEASON INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
With 10 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 ():
SERIES HISTORY: GRAND VALLEY 6, CONCORDIA 0
The Golden Bears and Lakers will meet for the seventh time this weekend, with CSP making its fifth trip to Allendale. The Golden Bears are seeking their first-ever win against the Lakers. In the series, CSP hasn't scored more than five goals in a game, and the Lakers haven't produced fewer than 17. Concordia and GVSU's last three meetings have all been in Allendale, marking the fourth straight time the programs will meet at GVSU.
SERIES HISTORY: CONCORDIA 5, DAVENPORT 2
The Golden Bears and Panthers will meet for the eighth time this weekend with Concordia leading the all-time series 5-2. Concordia has won its only two trips to the DU Turf Field in Grand Rapids, Michigan, securing a 13-8 win in 2018 and a 17-8 win in 2019. Last year, Davenport swept the two games played at Sea Foam Stadium on April 16 and 18, the first two games between the programs that the Golden Bears were held under 12 goals. This marks the first trip to Grand Rapids since the 2019 victory.
