MARQUETTE, Mich. - In a closely contested conference opener, Concordia-St. Paul (4-5, 0-1 GLIAC) fell short 13-11 at Northern Michigan (5-2, 1-0 GLIAC) on Friday evening at the Superior Dome.

The Wildcats scored the first three goals and never relinquished the lead in a game that was close throughout with the largest leads being four goals on three occasions. But CSP was never able to string together three-straight goals and only trimmed the margin to one goal twice, 3-2 late in the first quarter and 4-3 early in the second.

Concordia returns to conference play at home next Friday with a 6 p.m. game against #11 Grand Valley State at the Concordia Dome followed by a Sunday noon start against Davenport.

NMU broke a scoreless tie over five minutes into play when Minnie Bittell scored three-straight goals on her way to a 5-goal performance.

The Golden Bears were led by freshman Lauren Sheets' seven points, matching her season-high as she scored four goals and established a new career-high with three assists.

Junior Taylor Preece added four points, scoring once and matching her career-high with three assists, her second-straight three-assist performance.

Three other Golden Bears produced two-point performances with freshman Kennedy Bolander scoring a pair of goals while freshmen Susie Monson and Sara Kaiser each had a goal and assist.

Senior goalie Candace McDole secured her fifth double-digit saves performance of the year with 12 saves, matching her season-high while facing 30-plus shots for the fifth time this season.

After CSP trimmed the game to a one goal deficit twice in the first half, NMU was able to build 4-goal leads at 9-5 at the half, 12-8 at the end of the third and 13-9 early in the fourth. Concordia narrowed it to two-goal margins three times after that, 9-7 and 10-8 in the third quarter and 13-11 with 6:07 to play in the fourth with the two teams playing scoreless lacrosse the rest of the way.

CSP was only credited with two shots down the stretch, a shot on goal by Maddie Westberg with 32 seconds and a shot wide by Morgan Haapala with nine seconds left.

The two teams are scheduled to meet again in St. Paul to close out the regular season on Sunday, April 16 with a noon contest at Sea Foam Stadium in the first matchup between the programs at CSP's home field outdoors, with all other home games against NMU coming in the Concordia Dome. CSP is now 7-4 all-time against the Wildcats with five straight games being decided by five goals or less.