Wayne, Neb. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's soccer team (5-1-2, 2-1-2) played to a draw with the Wildcats of Wayne State (4-0-4, 3-0-2 NSIC) on a warm Friday evening at the WSC Soccer Field.
Freshman Brooke Nelson highlighted the evening for the Golden Bears, scoring both goals to mark her first collegiate multi-goal game. Nelson now has a team-leading three goals in her freshman campaign.
In the first half, the Navy and Gold came out fast and furious, taking just over a minute before putting the first score on the board with a quick pass from Lexi Pettit to Nelson. Pettit's assist marked her third assist of the season, which is a new career-high.
Concordia followed up the goal with two more quick shots on their hunt for more.
After a back-and-forth of shots from both teams the first half ended with the Golden Bears leading 1-0 while out shooting the Wildcats 6-2.
Coming out from halftime, Concordia was quick on their feet once again taking just over five minutes before adding another score to the board. Nelson got her second goal of the day on a Wayne State miscue to extend the Golden Bears lead 2-0.
CSP riffled off four more shots before the Wildcats gained possession and found themselves in corner kick position to send a shot flying right by the Navy and Gold's defense to put their first score of the day on the board.
With the score now 2-1 in favor of Concordia, the Wildcats were not going to back down and showed their offensive pressure. With just under three minutes to play Wayne evened the score with a high shot in the back of the net.
Both teams were able to get one more shot attempt with both being unsuccessful to end the game in a tie.
The Golden Bears held the final shot advantage 14-6 and forced the Wayne State defense to make five saves.
Goalkeeper Kayla Matuzak got her second start of the season in the net where she faced two shots in the first half before Sydney Potter came in for the second half.
Leading the defense for Concordia was Belle Abruzzo who played her team-leading sixth 90-minute outing of the season.
Anchoring the midfielders was Sophia Haase and Stella Nielsen who each stayed on the pitch for the entirety of the game.
Seven Golden Bears tallied a shot in the outing including Pettit, Haase, Sophia King, Nicole Moore, McKayla Stockness, Elena Siekas and Nelson with a team-leading four shots.
The Golden Bears will return to action on Sunday to face the Vikings of Augustana at Morstad Field in Sioux Falls, Minn. Kick-off will take place at 1 p.m.
