GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - In a game that Concordia-St. Paul (6-7, 2-2 GLIAC) had the lead for most of the afternoon, it was a dominant fourth quarter that sealed a 12-8 win at Davenport (1-11, 0-3 GLIAC) on Wednesday at DU Turf Field.

Concordia heads to Allendale, Michigan for a Friday afternoon matchup with 17th-ranked Grand Valley State at 3 p.m. (CT) in CSP's final road game of the 2023 regular season.

The Golden Bears both started and finish strong, jumping out to a 4-0 lead with a goal 40 seconds into play, another 37 seconds later and two more in the middle of the first quarter. They held a 4-1 lead at the quarter break before using a 5-1 fourth quarter margin to break a 7-7 tie at the end of three quarters.

Davenport was able to erase CSP's 6-2 lead midway through the second quarter by going on a 5-1 scoring run spanning the final 7:19 of the second quarter and the full third quarter, limiting CSP to one goal in over 24 minutes of game action, tying the game at 7-7 late in the third quarter.

Concordia's ability score with just 25 seconds left in the first half, a free position goal by Sara Kaiser, proved crucial, as it snapped a 3-0 scoring spurt by the Panthers and would eventually keep the game tied entering the fourth.

In the fourth quarter, Kennedy Bolander scored to give CSP the 8-7 lead just over a minute into the period, with Morgan Haapala scoring with a player-up advantage just over a minute later for insurance. After a scoreless six-plus minutes of action, Taylor Preece netted her second goal of the game on a free position shot with just under six minutes left.

While Davenport found the net with four and a half minutes to play, CSP won the ensuing draw control and didn't allow a shot on goal by Davenport until 12 seconds were left in the contest as CSP scored two more goals in the final two minutes, winning the draw controls after both goals to continue dominating possession.

In the win, freshman Lauren Sheets became the sixth player in program history to reach 40 goals in a season while recording her ninth hat trick with three goals. Freshman Susie Monson joined Sheets with a hat trick of her own, producing her third hat trick of the year, pushing her season total to 16 goals. Preece added a three-point performance, her third game with three or more points, scoring twice and adding an assist.

Senior goalie Candace McDole secured her eighth 10-plus save performance of the season with 10 saves to eight goals allowed, her season-best goals allowed performance against a Division II opponent. She faced 28 total shots with 18 on frame, registering a .556 save percentage. She added a team-high five ground balls and a caused turnover in the victory.

Three different Golden Bears picked up three ground balls each, Monson, Kayleigh Nelson and Meghan McGowan.

The Panther attack featured three players scoring two goals apiece: Blakely Malpass, Jordon Highley and Mika Kulynych while Davenport goalie Maisy Latus made things difficult on the Golden Bears by racking up 17 saves against 12 goals allowed, facing 35 total shots from the CSP attack.

The Golden Bears are now 8-4 all-time against Davenport, recording their third GLIAC regular season sweep in the series history, joining the 2018 and 2019 Golden Bear teams.