ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul soccer (2-3-1, 0-1-1 NSIC) dropped a one goal heartbreaker to No.7 Minnesota State (4-1-1, 2-0-0 NSIC) on Sunday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.
 
CSP soccer will return to action on the road next Friday against the Minnesota State Moorhead Dragons. Action is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.
 
Head Coach Steve Bellis stated, "First off, I thought we played particularly well and played a good round of football." Bellis added, "We got it [ball] down, knocked it around and looked confident, which was good."
 
"Second half was a little bit more scrappy than we wanted it to be," Bellis commented. "We were just really unfortunate in the 89th minute, a goal that we should have defended better." Bellis concluded with, "It just didn't happen today. We look forward to the next games and to keep moving up."
 
Jessi Jordan (1-3) played well in her fourth start in goal for the Golden Bears this afternoon. The junior goalkeeper tallied a career-best 10 saves, double the amount of saves from her season-best outing against McKendree (five saves).
 
Belle Abruzzo shined on the defensive side of the pitch in a 90-minute outing, particularly in the first half after she spoiled several MSU chances on their attacking side of the pitch. The sophomore kept the Mavericks off the board in the 11th minute with an impressive shot block and tallied a pair of shots as well.
 
Tori Miller also went the full 90 minutes on the pitch for the Golden Bears. The senior defender helped tame the Mavericks attack throughout the match and has still yet to exit the field this season. Captain Haley Rudebusch also helped the CSP defense with 62 minutes of her own.
 
Abruzzo, Clare Snapko, Sydney Manthana, Sophie Pawlyshyn and Sophia Haase each tested the Mavericks goalie Mackenzie Rath, who finished the match with five saves. Addison Clarey and Maddix Archer led the MSU attack with a pair of shots on goal.
 
The two clubs battled back-and-forth for the first 45 minutes of action as the score would remain 0-0 heading into the half. Concordia would finish with a slight 54-46 advantage in possession time. In addition, CSP outshot the MSU 6-5 with both teams adding three shots on goal.
 
In the second half, the game would swing in favor of the Mavericks as they outshot the Golden Bears 11-5 in a physical 45 minutes that resulted in a pair of yellow cards towards MSU. Jordan collected seven saves in the second period, but a goal in the 89th minute from Archer would seal the game for the seventh-ranked Mavericks.