ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's soccer team (11-3-3, 8-3-3 NSIC) is set to conclude their regular-season with a home match against the Warriors of Winona State on Thursday evening at Sea Foam Stadium.
Kick-off will take place at 6 p.m. with 10 seniors being honored for senior night. The graduating seniors include, Kayla Matuzak, Olivia Lovell, Jada Cannady, Caroline Lauinger, Ashley Bennett, Nicole Moore, Sophia King, McKayla Stockness, Belle Abruzzo and Clare Snapko.
The Golden Bears currently sit at fifth place in the NSIC standings and have clinched a spot in the 2025 NSIC Soccer Tournament to start next Monday, Nov. 10. Final seeding will be announced at the conclusion of the regular-season games on Thursday night.
RECAP OF THE WEEK
Game One: CSP 1, USF 0
Sydney Potter and Sophia Haase highlighted the day for the Golden Bears, Haase scored the game-winner with Potter making three crucial saves enroute to a career milestone.
In the first half, it was a back-and-forth battle with both teams taking early shots. There were opportunities for both sides, but turnovers stopped the momentum and kept both squads from any promising chances.
A corner kick would provide the needed spark for the Navy and Gold's offense, creating chances in the offensive zone for players to control possession.
In the 36th-minute, Haase would score the eventual game-winner on a straight shot just to the left to get Concordia on the board. She was assisted on the play by Lexi Pettit and Nicole Moore.
With her game-winning goal, Haase became the program's all-time leader in game-winning goals scored in a single-season.
One more shot with six minutes to play would not be enough and give the Golden Bears a strong victory to start the weekend.
Potter marked her 13th start of the season in net, making all three saves to bring her season total to 39, while hitting the 100th career save mark.
Game Two: CSP 6, SMSU 0
From the opening whistle the game was all Golden Bears, with a season-high five different players scoring including McKayla Stockness, Sophia King, Stella Nielsen, Ava Hopper and Maddison Balashaitis.
Hopper's four points led the team with Stockness, Nielsen and King all recording three points.
A star-studded game left SMSU no room to run, with the CSP defense shutting down every attack opportunity.
A season-high 26 players found themselves playing valuable minutes with Balashaitis, Nielsen and Clare Snapko each playing a team-high 78-minutes.
Junior goalkeeper Kayla Matuzak got her fourth start of the season in net, making one save to bring her season total to six. Matuzak recorded her second shutout of the season and fourth of her career. She played 75-minutes before sophomore Peyton Baker came in for relief.
SEASON LEADERS
Sophia Haase has kept her impressive season going on the pitch, ranking first in the NSIC in shots on goal (38), second in shots (67), T-3rd in goals (8), second in game-winning goals (5) and T-6th in points (18).
Her five game-winning goals rank ninth in NCAA Division II and her 2.24 shots on goal per game rank 10th.
Freshman Brooke Nelson ranks second on the team in points with 10 after tallying four goals and two assists thus far.
Lexi Pettit has continued her assists reign, extending her team-lead to four which ranks T-4th in the NSIC.
Goalkeeper Syndey Potter has now seen 13 starts where she has recorded 44 saves to produce a 8-3-3 record.
Leading the defense is Clare Snapko who has played a team-leading 1399-minutes and has recorded six points for the Navy and Gold.
As a team, the Golden Bears rank second in the NSIC in shots per game (17.06), shots on goal per game (8.76), shutout percentage (0.529) and third in save percentage (0.836).
POST-SEASON OUTLOOK
The Navy and Gold have clinched their way into the post-season and will find themselves in the 2025 NSIC Soccer Tournament for the eighth straight year.
Their seeding is still fluid and will be announced at the conclusion of the regular-season on Thursday night.
If the Golden Bears win on Thursday over Winona State and Minot State either losses or ties their game, CSP will clinch a fourth-place NSIC finish and host the NSIC Quarterfinals on home field.
If the above scenario does not happen, Concordia will travel for the quarterfinals to one of the top-four teams' campuses before the semifinals and championship games will be played on the campus of the highest remaining seed.
NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS
The first NCAA Women's soccer regional rankings were released and the Golden Bears appeared under consideration in the Central Region. In the first release, the teams are listed by alphabetical order with the first numerical rankings to be released next week.
This is the Navy and Gold's third time 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 WSU
The two programs have met a total of 32 times dating back to September 29, 1999. The Warriors hold a commanding 24-7-1 all-time record.
Since 2017, the Golden Bears hold a 5-2-1 record including a convincing 5-0 win over Winona State last season.
The win was led by five different scorers for CSP including Ashley Bennett with a goal and an assist.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Winona State posted a (6-8-2, 5-8-1 NSIC) record in the 2024 season and were picked to finish 10th in the 2025 NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 95 points.
WSU currently sits at (7-5-2, 6-5-3 NSIC) after recording two back-to-back shutouts this past week including a 3-0 win over SMSU and 2-0 over USF.
The players to watch for the Warriors are senior forward Sarah Strating and sophomore goalkeeper Abigail Rounds. They both earned NSIC Player of the Week recognition in the past release and have left their dominance on the field.
Kyleigh Jannisch is another Warrior to watch, she has accumulated a team-leading five goals and 11 points while firing 27 shots.
