ST. PAUL, Minn. - The fifth-seeded Concordia-St. Paul women's soccer team (12-3-4, 9-3-3 NSIC) is set to play the #3 and top-seeded Mavericks of Minnesota State in the 2025 NSIC Soccer Tournament Semifinals on Nov. 14.
Friday's game with kick-off at 1 p.m. following the conclusion of the Bemidji State - St. Cloud matchup. Both games will be played at The Pitch in Mankato, Minn. on the campus of Minnesota State with a trip to the championship on the line.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The top eight teams from the NSIC Soccer Standings advance to the single-elimination tournament. The top four seeds host first round matches on Monday, November 10 with the winning teams advancing to the semifinal and championship rounds on Friday, November 14 and Sunday, November 16 in a bracketed format. There will be no reseeding following the first round matches. The highest remaining seed following the quarterfinal matches will host both semifinal and championship matches.
Minnesota State won its eighth NSIC regular season title after earning 40 points by finishing 13-1-1 in NSIC play. The Mavericks will be the number one seed entering the tournament and will host a first round match against eighth seeded University of Mary on Monday at 1 p.m. Bemidji State earned the second seed and will host seventh seed Northern State at 5 p.m. Third seeded St. Cloud State will matchup with sixth seeded Augustana at 1 p.m., while fourth seeded Minot State will host fifth seeded Concordia-St. Paul at 5 p.m.
The winner of the 2025 NSIC Women's Soccer Tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Central Region Tournament. The complete NCAA championship bracket will be announced on Monday, November 17 via a webcast selection show on www.NCAA.com at 5:30 p.m. (CT).
RECAP OF THE WEEK
Semifinals: CSP 0, MINOT 0 - CSP W 3-0 in PK
Goalkeeper Sydney Potter was the shining star for the Golden Bears in a regulation shutout, two overtime periods and a perfect save record in penalty kicks.
In the first half, it was the Beavers who notched the first shot before the Navy and Gold recorded five back-to-back shots to make their offensive pressure known.
Opening the second half, both sides exchanged shot attempts to set the offensive tempo with both teams racing to find the net. Each side earned corner kick opportunities, but were unable to convert the chances. Three final shots for the Golden Bears would be unsuccessful and the game would head to overtime.
In the first overtime period, each team would have their chance of possession where neither was able to find pressure or the back of the net. After a 10-minute period the game was still scoreless and headed to the second overtime period.
The second overtime period was much like the first with the Beavers and Golden Bears trading possession, but neither team was able to get the Golden goal and penalty kicks would be needed to send a team advancing in the tournament for the second consecutive season.
Penalty kicks from Clare Snapko, Jada Cannady, Sophia Haase and a save from Potter would give Concordia the 3-0 advantage and send the Golden Bears to the NSIC Semifinals for the second straight season.
ALL-CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
Six Golden Bears were named to the 2025 All-NSIC Soccer Teams. Sophia Haase, Brooke Nelson, Sydney Potter and Clare Snapko were named to the First Team and Belle Abruzzo and Lexi Pettit to the Second Team.
Haaase, Potter and Snapko all repeat as selections after earning their first appearance on the All-NSIC list last season while Abruzzo, Nelson and Pettit earn their first selections.
Nelson becomes the first freshman to make the First-Team since Lindsay Hartleben in 2002 and Lisa Harfield in 2000, making her the third student-athlete to do so.
NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS
The third and final NCAA Women's Soccer rankings were released and the Golden Bears were ranked eighth in the central region for the second consecutive week.
This is the Navy and Gold's third season in the regional rankings and second consecutive season in which they appear. They made their first appearance in 2019, where they won the NSIC Regular-Season Title and made their first NCAA appearance in program-history.
Last season, CSP earned their first time back on the list since 2019 and went on to make their second NCAA Tournament appearance.
HISTORY BETWEEN CSP AND MSU
The two programs have met a total of 26 times dating back to September 10, 2002. The Mavericks currently hold a commanding 23-2-1 all-time record over the Golden Bears.
Last season, CSP fell 3-0 to MSU in Mankato, Minn at the Mavericks All-Sport Dome. Concordia last beat Minnesota State in the 2023 season by a score of 2-1 to advance to the NSIC Tournament Semifinals over then ranked No. 19 Mavericks.
Earlier this season, the Golden Bears fell in a 1-0 heartbreaker to the Mavericks on a penalty kick during regulation play.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State posted a (18-2-7, 11-0-2 NSIC) record in the 2024 season on route to making their first appearance at the NCAA Division II National Championship, where they fell 2-1 to the Champion Cal Poly Pomona.
On top of their National Championship appearance, MSU was the regular season NSIC Champion, NSIC Tournament Champion and NCAA Central Region Champion.
The Mavericks were picked to finish first in the 2025 NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 224 points, right ahead of the Golden Bears in second. As a program, MSU has been ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Top-25 every week thus far, coming in at No. 3 in this week's poll.
MSU won the 2025 NSIC Regular-Season Title and currently sits at (16-1-2, 13-1-1 NSIC) after suffering their first loss of the season in the final week to St. Cloud State 1-0. In the NSIC Quarterfinals, the Mavericks took down the Marauders of UMary 2-1 to advance.
The players to watch for Purple and Black are senior Ann Van Wyngarden who was the NSIC Defensive Player of the Year and sophomore Lauren McAlpine who was the NSIC Goalkeeper of the Year. Both players have excelled on the pitch for the Mavericks and helped guide them to their regular-season title and the top-seed in the tournament.
HISTORY IN THE NSIC TOURNAMENT
CSP holds a 7-14-2 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 most successful finish for the Navy and Gold came in 2019 where they reached the championship game for the first time in program history. That season, the No. 20 Golden Bears won the NSIC Regular-Season title for the first time and opened the tournament with a 2-0 win over Wayne State in the quarterfinals and added a 2-1 win over St. Cloud State in the semifinals match.
In 2023, Concordia reached the tournament as the seventh seed and upset No. 19 ranked Minnesota State 2-1 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2021. In the semifinals, CSP fell 1-0 to the Marauders of UMary to end their run.
Last season, the Golden Bears hosted the quarterfinals round as the second seed in the tournament where they faced the Bemidji State Beavers at Sea Foam Stadium. Concordia earned a 1-0 victory led by a Sophia Haase game-winner to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, the Navy and Gold faced Minot State where after a full 90-minute regulation game and two overtime periods the game was knotted 0-0, the game headed to penalty kicks where the Beavers came out on top 5-4 to end the Golden Bears NSIC run.
This season, the Golden Bears would even the score and face Minot once again. This time coming out on the celebratory end in penalty kicks to advance in the NSIC Tournament.
Concordia enters this year's NSIC tournament for the eighth straight season and 14th all-time appearance.
