ABERDEEEN, S.D. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's soccer team (5-0, 2-0 NSIC) earned a big road win 2-1 over the Wolves of Northern State to stay unbeaten on Sunday afternoon at the NSU Athletic & Recreation Field.
Nicole Moore and Lexi Pettit highlighted the day for the Navy and Gold, each scoring a goal to push the team to their first 5-0 start to a season since 2018.
On the win, head coach Steve Bellis stated, "Our team showed a little bit of character today to come back from being a goal down. We had grit and resilience versus a team that made our game difficult."
Bellis added, "We created enough chances to feel like we deserved the win on the road still knowing we have areas of our game to clean up and this group will continue to improve."
In the first half, Concordia riffled off the first shot of the game before NSU regained possession and rifled off a shot of their own. After a back-and-forth possession change the Wolves found the net first, scoring in the 17th-minute by Savannah Funk.
With their backs against the wall for the first time this season, the Golden Bears never looked back and responded with a goal in the 33rd-minute to even the score. It was Nicole Moore with the score to mark her second-straight game with a goal. She was assisted on the play by freshman Izzy Sipe.
With a fresh game back on the sheet, the Navy and Gold worked to take the lead with four shots to end the first half.
Coming out for the second half, CSP was on the hunt for their game-winning score, but the Wolves weren't going to make it easy. Four back-to-back quick shots by Northern pushed the defense to make play after play before the offense was able to regain control and head for the net.
In the 76th-minute, Lexi Pettit scored the eventual game-winning goal on an assist by Ashley Bennett to give Concordia their first lead of the day. Pettit earned her first goal of the season and second of her career with the score.
With 14 minutes left to play, the CSP defense was able to hold the Wolves offense to just one shot that was saved by goalkeeper Syndey Potter to earn the victory.
The Golden Bears held a 14-7 shot advantage and 5-1 corner kick advantage in the game.
Leading the defense for the Navy and Gold was Belle Abruzzo and Clare Snapko who each played a full 90-minute outing on the pitch and held the Wolves offense to just two shots on goal. This was Abruzzo's team-leading fourth full game of the season.
Goalkeeper Potter started in her fourth game of the season where she made two saves to bring her season total to nine.
Bellis on the perfect start, "It's nice to have a 5-0 record, but we are not getting carried away and know we have some big games coming up."
The Golden Bears will return to action next week to face the Beavers of Minot State on Friday and the Marauders of UMary on Sunday in a dual NSIC matchup weekend. CSP will look to set a new program record sixth win to open the season.
