ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse team (6-5, 2-1 GLIAC) will stay home to play the Panthers of Northern Michigan in a single weekend GLIAC game in the Concordia Dome on Saturday at 12 p.m.
Saturday's game will mark the mental health awareness game presented by Morgan's Message.
RECAP OF THE WEEK
Game One: GVSU 17, CSP 10
Five players were able to find the net in the loss including Kennedy Bolander, Morgan Haapala, Sara Kaiser, a hat-trick outing for Anna Fisher and a four-goal game for Susie Monson.
It was the Golden Bears who came out swinging early, just 32 seconds into the game Monson scored her first goal off a game-opening draw control by Bolander to take the early lead over the Lakers.
Just a short ten seconds later Monson was able to score her second goal of the game to extend the lead 2-0 in just under a minute.
The early lead marked the first time in program history that CSP held any type of lead over Grand Valley State in any meeting.
Down 10-5 at the end of the first half, the Navy and Gold showed no signs of throwing in the towel. It took Bolander just 42 seconds into the third quarter to score her seventh goal of the season.
An even fourth quarter was not enough for the Golden Bears to regain the lead including another Monson goal and goals from both Fisher and Haapala to suffer the 17-10 loss to the Lakers.
Marge Lucio got the start in the Net for the Navy and Gold where she made five saves before Katie Colleran came in after the first-half. Colleran tallied a career-high eight saves to bring her season total to 38.
Monson added to her tremendous game, leading the team with seven draw controls while adding two ground balls and six shots.
Clarie Flahaven led the Golden Bear defense with three ground balls and three caused turnovers.
As a team, Grand Valley State edged out Concordia 18-15 in ground balls and 17-14 in draw controls while holding the 39-22 shot advantage.
Game Two: CSP 11, DU 9
Freshman goalkeeper Katie Colleran got her sixth start of the season where she made a career-high 15 saves that earned her a spot at number four on the all-time record of saves made in a single-game.
Senior attack Anna Fisher recorded her third game of the season with six goals scored to mark her fourth career six goal game. Fisher added an assist to her exceptional day to tally seven total points in the victory to total her fourth career game with seven points scored.
It was as back and forth of a battle as you could imagine but it was the Golden Bears that struck first with Fisher's first goal of the day. The senior attack would go on to score all of the Navy and Gold's first half goals.
Susie Monson got the Golden Bears on the board in the fourth quarter to give CSP its largest lead of the day up 10-7.
Davenport responded with a pair of back-to-back goals to try and stay in the game but Kaiser would have the last say and score her second goal of the day to earn the Golden Bears the 11-9 win.
Kaysawn Carlson led the team in draw controls with five to mark a career-high for the midfielder.
As a team, the Golden Bears forced 16 turnovers from the Panthers and held the draw controls in their favor 15-8.
SEASON LEADERS
Susie Monson continues to lead the GLIAC in total assists (21), assists per game (1.91) and draw controls per game (4.82).
Monson currently ranks top-10 in seven single-season records including third in points per game, second in total assists, second in assists per game, third in draw controls per game, fourth in total draw controls, ninth in shots on goal per game and eighth in shots per game.
Anna Fisher ranks second in the GLIAC in total goals (35), goals per game (3.18), shots per game (7.45) and shots on goal per game (5.36).
Fisher currently ranks top-10 in eight single-season records including fifth in points per game, 10th in total goals, first in goals per game, first in shots on goal per game, 10th in shots per game, ninth in shots attempted, and firth in man-down goals.
Natalie Brownfield continues to lead the GLIAC in caused turnovers per game with 1.78.
Katie Colleran leads the GLIAC in save percentage with .495. She currently ranks top-10 in two single-season records including third in goals against average and season in total save percentage.
Other Golden Bears that currently rank top-10 in single-season records are Sydney Smith who ranks eighth in man-up goals (5), Claire Flahaven who ranks sixth in caused turnovers per game (1.44), Jenna Hamann who ranks seventh in total assists (17) and third in assists per game (1.55) and lastly Sara Kaiser who ranks seventh in assist per game (1.09).
As a team, the Navy and Gold lead the GLIAC in assists per game (6.36), caused turnovers per game (10.09), points per game (18) and women-down goals per game (1.45).
ABOUT THE PANTHERS
Northern Michigan posted a (14-5, 4-2 GLIAC) record in the 2024 season and were picked to finish second in the GLIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 13 points after reaching their second consecutive GLIAC Championship.
The Wildcats currently sit at (7-4, 2-1 GLIAC) after splitting the last week of play, topping Davenport 9-6 and falling in overtime 12-11 to Grand Valley State.
Leading the Wildcats is attack Josie Lakosky who is the reigning GLIAC Freshman of the year and currently leads the GLIAC in shots per game, points per game, goals per game and total goals with 41 on the season.
HISTORY BETWEEN CSP AND NMU
The two programs have met a total of 16 times dating back to March 7, 2017 where CSP got the 13-10 win.
The Wildcats hold the 9-7 all-time record after winning the last six meetings with the Golden Bears. Concordia got its last win over Northern Michigan on April 13, 2022.
Last season, the two teams met three times including the GLIAC Semifinals where the Wildcats got the 15-6 victory. During the regular season NMU outscored CSP 32-17.
