ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #2 seed Concordia- St. Paul soccer (13-3-3) is set to play the #6 seed Beavers of Minot State (11-3-4) in the NSIC Tournament Semifinals Nov. 15 at The Pitch in Mankato, Minnesota. Kick-off is set for 10 a.m.
The NSIC Tournament is scheduled for its semifinal and championship rounds to take place at the campus of the highest remaining seed of the four quarterfinal winners.
The Golden Bears have won their last eight games and will look to keep the streak going as they take on the Beavers for the second time this season after winning 3-0 in the regular season.
RECAP OF THE WEEK
The Golden Bears won their eighth straight game to win the first-round of the NSIC Tournament, shutting out the Beavers of Bemidji State 1-0 on Monday afternoon.
Concordia claimed just their fifth quarterfinal win in program history and second in a row after last year's first round upset over the #19 ranked Minnesota State Mavericks.
CSP soccer was ranked fifth in the final United Soccer Coaches Central Region Poll and last week were ranked #7 in the NCAA Central Region Rankings.
Game One: CSP 1, BSU 0
Following the win, head coach Steve Bellis stated, "Today we met an awesome opponent and some tough weather conditions. We grounded out an amazing win and showed some real squad strength to get us into the next round."
Sophia Haase once again highlighted the game for the Golden Bears scoring her team-leading eighth goal of the season.
The Navy and Gold looked to keep the Beavers on the outside playing BSU for the second time in the last two weeks.
CSP got off to a strong start holding down the Beavers and giving the Golden Bears offense time to breakaway having three shots to the BSU one in the first twenty minutes.
At the 22nd minute Sophia Haase scored the eventual game-winner on a header coming from a Clare Snapko corner kick.
Both teams had four shots and three saves in the first half with Concordia holding the 3-1 corner kick advantage.
In the second half the Beavers were doing anything they could to place themselves on the scoreboard. They outshot the Golden Bears 4-1 and held a 3-1 corner kick advantage.
CSP kept up with every BSU attempt, forcing the ball up and down the field, killing the Beavers momentum each time.
Two corner kicks and two shots for Bemidji in the final 15 minutes were blocked by a lock-tight Golden Bears team.
Holding down the defensive side of the pitch for the Navy and Gold were Snapko, Belle Abruzzo and Haley Rudebusch who allowed just four shots on goal and played a full 90-minute outing.
Abruzzo, Snapko, Haase, Amaya O'Hearn and Lexi Pettit all had one shot on goal in the game.
Goalkeeper Sydney Potter once again continue her reign in the net, holding her 11th shutout of the season to put herself at fifth all-time in career shutouts. She tallied four saves to bring her season total to 46 including a leaping save at the 41st minute.
SEASON LEADERS
Amaya O'Hearn leads the team and NSIC in assists per game (0.47) while also leading in total assists (9) which ranks her ninth in DII.
Clare Snapko leads the team in minutes played with 1,620 and ranks third in the NSIC in total assists with five.
Sophia Haase continues to play her best soccer adding her eighth goal of the season to lead the team in goals, shots (41) and shots on goal (25). She currently ranks second in the NSIC in six categories including game-winning goals (3), goals per game (0.42), points per game (1.11), shot accuracy (0.610), total goals and total points (21).
Sammy Ponsonby shares the #2 NSIC ranking with Haase for game-winning goal (3).
Goalkeeper Syndey Potter has continued her dominance in the net accumulating her 11th shutout of the season to rank her second in the NSIC and fourth in DII. She also currently ranks third in the NSIC with a save percentage of 0.902 which ranks her sixth in DII.
Potter has recorded 46 saves on 90 shots faced and owns a 0.34 goals against average.
HISTORY BETWEEN CSP AND MINOT
The two programs have met a total of 13 times with the Beavers holding the 4-7-2 all-time advantage. CSP got their first win over the Beavers on Oct 4, 2019 with a 5-0 shutout.
Last season, Concordia got the 1-0 win over Minot in a regular season game led by a Katie Anderson goal assisted by Belle Abruzzo.
This season, CSP beat the Beavers 3-0 in the regular season led by Ashley Bennett and Sophia Haase each with a goal and Minot with an own goal.
ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Minot State posted a 6-8-4 (3-7-4 NSIC ) record in the 2023 season and were picked to finish ninth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 84 points.
The Beavers Currently sit at 11-3-4 after going 2-0 in their last two games, dominating MSU Moorhead 4-0 in their regular season finale and then taking down the #3 seeded Auggies to advance to the NSIC Semifinals.
The player to watch for the Beavers is freshman forward Anna Miotto. Miotto is the team leader in goals with seven and has tallied 51 shots.
HISTORY AT THE NSIC TOURNAMENT
CSP holds a 7-14 record in the conference tournament since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 1999. The Golden Bears won their first tournament game on October 24, 2006 with a 3-1 win over MSU Moorhead.
The 2019 Golden Bears had the best finish in the conference tournament reaching the championship game for the first time in program history. That season the No. 20 CSP soccer were the NSIC Regular Season Champions and opened the tournament with a 2-0 win over Wayne State in the quarterfinals and added a 2-1 win over St. Cloud in the semifinal match.
Last season, Concordia reached the tournament as the #7 seed and upset #19 ranked Minnesota State 2-1 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2021. In the semifinals, the Golden Bears fell to the Marauders of UMary 1-0 to end their run.
