ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (2-3) went toe-to-toe with a red-hot nationally-ranked #11 Maryville (Mo.) University (4-0) squad on Sunday afternoon, holding a pair of first-quarter leads before the visiting Saints closed out a 21-5 victory over Concordia at the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium.

Concordia is the first team to hold the Saints under 25 goals in a game this season.

The loss ends CSP's season-opening five-game homestand in the dome, and they'll now head on the road until April, traveling to Colorado Springs, Colorado for a pair of games against UC-Colorado Springs on March 6 and against Fort Lewis on the campus of UCCS on March 8. The month of March will feature six road games in three different states, including a pair in Ohio and a pair in Missouri before returning to the CSP Dome on April 5-7 to open GLIAC play.

Concordia came out strong against the 11th-ranked Saints, looking to secure the program's second win against a ranked opponent in school history. Although the Saints struck first with a pair of goals in the second minute just 21 seconds apart, Concordia struck back.

Anna Fisher netted back-to-back goals to start a 3-0 scoring run as CSP's passing was crisp around the cage, with Susie Monson assisting twice around Hailey Hartlage's assist on the second goal of the run to give Concordia a 3-2 lead with eight minutes to play in the opening quarter.

After Maryville tied the game with 5:40 to play, freshman Kaysawn Carlson dished her first assist to Taylor Preece just 17 seconds later to give Concordia its second lead, 4-3. 

The Saints were able to tie the game at 4-4 at the end of the quarter. In the opening quarter, Concordia won six of the nine draws against a team that entered play with the opposite margin on draw controls on the year, 66-33. CSP also drew 10 fouls against the Saints, despite CSP holding a 72-51 foul margin on the year. Further, the Saints were constantly playing short-handed with eight cards (seven green, one yellow) in the quarter compared to Concordia's two.

But the visiting Saints made adjustments, leading to a less physical style defensively, cutting down on their fouls and cards. The rest of the way, Maryville picked up three total cards (all green) to Concordia's two (both green).

Maryville then used the field to open things up, outscoring Concordia 18-1 the rest of the contest, with Morgan Haapala scoring for CSP late in the second quarter to cut the margin to 12-5 heading into halftime.

The Saints added three more in the third and six more in the fourth.

Fisher led CSP's attack with two goals while Monson had two assists, with Haapala, Sydney Smith, and Preece netting the other three. CSP assisted on four of its five goals.

In addition to her two-goal game, Fisher led CSP with a game-high seven draw controls.

Defensively, Claire Flahaven stood tall with a game-high six caused turnovers and added four ground balls.

Freshman goalie Marge Lucio secured 10 saves against the 11th-ranked Saints, and also picked up six ground balls in front of a busy cage.

Sydney Tiemann led the Saints with nine points including seven goals while Jessie Hynes had eight points including six goals. Gianna Guzek secured the victory in goal for MU with six saves and five goals allowed.

Maryville was able to even out the margin on the draw with a 15-15 split in 30 draw controls, while out-shooting CSP 41-15 as Concordia had 24 turnovers to Maryville's 14.