ST. PAUL, Minn. - The #6 seed Concordia-St. Paul soccer (13-3-4) is set to take on the #3 seed Griffons of Missouri Western (15-2-3) in the First-Round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament. Action will take place in Mankato, Minnesota at The Pitch with a kick-off at 10 a.m.
On the NCAA Tournament First-Round, head coach Steve Bellis stated, "It's an exciting time for our program. We feel like we are in a good position having just played at Mankato and on the grass surface but are very much aware of the quality our opponents possess. We've trained well this week and are excited to play."
The Golden Bears will look to keep their unbeaten streak of nine games going and play their best soccer of the season.
RECAP OF THE WEEK
The Golden Bears finish the week going 1-0-1 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.
In the NSIC Semifinals, the Golden Bears played 110-minutes, sending the game to double overtime and eventually to penalty kicks against the Beavers of Minot State. The Beavers advanced to the NSIC Championship winning 5-4 in penalty kicks.
On Monday night, CSP was announced as the #6 seed in the NCAA Central Region Tournament, earning just their second NCAA appearance and first one since 2019.
Concordia was ranked in all three NCAA Region Rankings prior to the selection show and finished second in the NSIC regular-season.
Game One: CSP 1, BSU 0
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.
Game Two: Minot 0, CSP 0 L 5-4 in PK
In the first half, CSP held a slight shot advantage 4-3 with a 1-0 corner kick advantage forcing the Minot goalie to make three saves.
Concordia came out for the second half getting two shots off quickly to force the Beavers on their toes.
Minot refused to fold and gave their own fight back slightly edging their own shot advantage 5-4. With both teams playing solid defense, regulation play ended scoreless forcing the first overtime period.
In the first overtime, Minot held control of the ball but the Golden Bear defense followed them everywhere they went, holding them to just one shot and forcing a second overtime.
The Beavers raced all over the front lines in the second overtime, taking two corner kicks and two shots while continuing to hold the Bears shotless once again forcing the game to penalty kicks.
In a best of five series for penalty kicks Ashley Bennett started first for the Golden Bears adding the first points of the day as her kick flew right by the Minot goalie.
The Beavers responded with a goal of their own to once again keep the score even.
Sammy Ponsonby, Sydney Mathana and Morgan Bilczewski added points of their own but the Minot goalie was able to make just one extra stop to call game and end the Golden Bears NSIC tournament run.
SEASON LEADERS
Amaya O'Hearn leads the team and NSIC in assists per game (0.45) and total assists (9) which ranks her 14th in NCAA DII.
Clare Snapko leads the team in minutes played with 1730 including 16 full 90-minute games and the full 110-minute game against Minot.
Sophia Haase continues to keep her name in the top-three in six categories for the NSIC including goals per game (0.42), points per game (1.11), shot accuracy (0.610), total goals (8), total points (21) and game-winning goals (3).
Sammy Ponsonby shares the #3 NSIC ranking with Haase for game-winning goals (3).
Goalkeeper Syndey Potter has continued her dominance in the net ranking top-six in NCAA DII in three categories including goals against average (0.317), save percentage (0.918) and shutouts (12). Her 12 shutouts rank third in NCAA DII.
As a team the Golden Bears continue to lead the NSIC in assists per game (1.85) and total assists (37) which is good for top-twenty in NCAA DII.
HISTORY BETWEEN CSP AND MWSU
The two programs have only met twice with the Griffons holding a 2-0 all-time advantage. The first time the two teams met was September 3, 2006 where MWSU got the 3-2 win.
The last time the two programs met was September 3, 2021 where #23 Missouri Western edged out Concordia 2-1.
Both prior meetings were non-conference games and both games were played in St. Joseph, Missouri.
ABOUT THE GRIFFONS
Missouri Western posted a 5-8-6 (3-4-4 MIAA) record in the 2023 season and was picked to finish sixth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
The Griffons currently sit at 15-2-3 after going 1-1 in their last two games, beating Nebraska Kearney 1-0 in the MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals and then falling to top-ranked Central Missouri 2-0 in the semifinals.
They currently sit at #21 in the country and have been in the rankings almost every week since the start of the season.
The player to watch for MWSU is forward Aidyn Woodall who has scored five goals, four assists and leads the team in points with 14.
HISTORY IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Golden Bears have had just one NCAA appearance prior to this season.
In 2019, CSP won their first NSIC Regular-Season Championship and were the #3 seed in the NCAA Central Region with a 17-2-2 record.
The Golden Bears took on Northeastern State in the first-round where they played to a 1-1 tie and CSP won 3-1 in penalty kicks to advance to the second-round.
In the second-round Concordia took on #4 Central Missouri where the tournament run came to an end 2-0.
CSP will look to earn their second NCAA Tournament win in program history this Friday.
