ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Golden Bears' 2023 season came to a close on Friday afternoon, falling 15-11 to Northern Michigan in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals played on the campus of Grand Valley State University.
On an overcast, 60-degree day in Michigan, the third-seeded Golden Bears looked poised to pick-off the second seeded Wildcats, leading 4-1 late in the first quarter and holding an 8-6 lead late in the first half. But the Wildcats were able to employ an extended 8-0 scoring run, keeping CSP scoreless for nearly 22 minutes of game play from late in the second quarter until
Susie Monson found
Anna Fisher for a goal to snap the drought with 12:50 to play in the game, cutting into what turned into a 6-goal NMU fourth quarter lead (14-8).
In the final frame, CSP looked to make a run to get back into the game, with the Fisher goal starting a 3-0 CSP run, with
Kayleigh Nelson finding
Lauren Sheets for her fourth goal of the game with 5:46 to go, trimming the lead to three, a manageable margin with just under six minutes to go.
But NMU goalie Hannah Melander came up with three saves in the next three minutes, stopping two scoring attempts by Monson and another by
Sara Kaiser.
The Wildcats would add an insurance goal with 15 seconds remaining for the final 4-goal margin (15-11).
Concordia built its early game lead partially due to a strong performance in the center circle, snagging six of the game's first eight draw controls in the first quarter. But by game end, NMU had flipped the key possession statistic in its favor, claiming a 16-14 final margin on the draw, and also secured a 23-17 margin in ground balls.
Sheets' four goal game led the Golden Bears on the attack as she finishes off her first season with 47 goals, nine assists and 56 points with 11 hat tricks on the year. The 47 goals is the fourth-most in a season in program history.
Junior
Taylor Preece added a three-point performance, scoring once and handing out a pair of assists as she concludes the season with 11 goals and 11 assists, one of five players to register 20-plus points on the year.
The team's other three 20-plus point scorers on the year,
Kayleigh Nelson,
Sara Kaiser and
Susie Monson each had 2-point performances on the day with Nelson and Kaiser each providing two assists while Monson had a goal and an assist. They were joined in the 2-point club by
Kennedy Bolander, who led the reserves with two goals. Monson matched her career-best six draw controls, a feat she has achieved twice in a row, both coming against Northern Michigan. Monson led the team with 44 draw controls on the season and was second on the team in points (28). Nelson's two assists gave her a team-leading 14 on the season.
Defensively,
Paige Nicklaus led the unit with a pair of caused turnovers and a ground ball while
Anna Palony had three ground balls and a caused turnover.
Goalie
Candace McDole registered seven saves her final performance in the cage, adding three ground balls. She finished the year with 140 saves, second-most in a season in school history. She established new CSP records for single-season saves per game (9.33), career saves per game (8.70) and career save percentage (.439). She also leaves CSP with the second-most career saves (261) and third-most ground balls (92) in just two seasons as a Golden Bear.
The Wildcats were led by Minnie Bittell's nine-point performance with six goals and three assists, adding three draw controls, while Madi Bast and Katelyn Mongold each had a hat trick, as well. Melander finished with 11 saves and added eight ground balls for the Wildcats.
NMU advances to the GLIAC Tournament Championship on Sunday at noon (ET), facing tournament host and top seed Grand Valley State, who secured a double-digit win over Davenport this afternoon.
