ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse team (3-5, 0-0 GLIAC) is set to open conference play with a single-game week, taking on the Cardinals of Saginaw Valley State (1-5, 0-0 GLIAC).
Action will take place on Sunday, Mar. 22 at 12 p.m. inside the Concordia Dome. Sunday's game will mark the Golden Bears Cancer Awareness Game.
LAST TIME OUT
Game One: CSP 14, WJC 13 OT
The Golden Bears are now 3-0 all-time against the Cardinals and 2-0 in games played in Liberty, Mo.
Shelby Marik was the shining star for the Golden Bears, scoring her first career overtime winning goal. Adding to her impressive game was a career-high five goals and four draw controls.
Adding to the Navy and Gold's offensive attack was senior Susie Monson who led the team with eight points, scoring four goals and four assists.
Junior Shelby Hansen recorded her first hat-trick of the season, scoring three goals on three shot attempts.
Rounding out the scoring effort for CSP was senior Sydney Smith who notched her first multi-goal game of the season.
The fourth quarter saw a total of nine combined goals, five for the Cardinals and four for the Golden Bears to end regulation in a 13-13 tie and send the game to overtime, marking CSP's first overtime game of the season.
With one minute remaining in the first overtime quarter, Marik scored the game-winner to give Concordia the 14-13 win.
The Navy and Gold went 4-4 on clear attempts and won 20-30 draw controls led by nine from Monson. The Cardinals held a sight shot advantage 27-25 and 13-12 on goal.
Junior Erika Holm saw her third start of the season where she made three saves to bring her season total to 25.
Adding to the defensive effort was Claire Flahaven who tallied four caused turnovers and six ground balls.
Game Two: RU 15, CSP 5
Leading the Golden Bears effort was Susie Monson who recorded a team-leading three goals, marking her fourth hat-trick of the season and 19th of her career. Monson added three caused turnovers, three ground balls and two draw controls to round out her game.
On the defensive side, Claire Flahaven tallied a team-leading four caused turnovers bringing her season total to 18.
The defensive effort from the Hawks matched with the high-powered offensive attack took advantage of CSP mistakes to capitalize on the scoring side and give them the 15-5 win.
Junior Marge Lucio got her fifth start of the season in net where she made seven saves to bring her season total to 30.
Freshman Shelby Marik extended her point-streak to eight games, scoring at least one goal in each of them to make her mark early in her freshman campaign.
Junior Shelby Hansen scored a goal for the sixth straight game, totaling her 13th point of the season.
As a team, the Navy and Gold went 13-26 on clear attempts and won 6-of-22 draw controls. The Hawks out shot CSP 32-18 and forced 24 turnovers.
SEASON LEADERS
Freshman Shleby Marik leads the Golden Bears scoring attack with a team-leading 19 goals, ranking T-4th in the GLIAC.
Senior Susie Monson has found herself all over the field for the Navy and Gold tallying 17 goals (5th in the GLIAC), eight assists (T-4th in the GLIAC), and 41 draw controls (2nd in the GLIAC). Her 0.667 free-position percentage ranks first in the GLIAC and 19th in NCAA DII.
This past week, Monson earned her second GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week accolade.
Senior Claire Flahaven has been a mainstay on the defense for CSP and leads the GLIAC with 18 caused turnovers and second with 2.25 CT per game. Her 19 ground balls rank fifth in the GLIAC.
MILESTONE WATCH
Defender Natalie Brownfield sits at 43 career caused turnovers, seven away from 50.
Midfielder Susie Monson sits at 298 career shots, two away from 300. Monson also has 87 ground balls, 13 away from 100.
Defender Anna Palony sits at 47 caused turnovers, three away from 50.
Attack Sydney Smith sits at 43 career goals, seven away from 50.
Attack Shelby Hansen sits at 39 career points, 11 away from 50.
Attack Jenna Hamann sits at 37 assists, 13 away from 50. Hamann also has 43 career points, seven away from 50.
Goalkeeper Marge Lucio sits at 82 ground balls, 12 away from 100.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Saginaw Valley State posted a (0-13, 0-8 GLIAC) record in their inaugural 2025 campaign and were picked to finish fifth in the GLIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll with four points.
The Cardinals currently sit at (1-5, 0-0 GLIAC) after earning the program's first win against Northwood. Last week, SVSU fell in back-to-back games to Dominican by a combined score of 35-7.
Leading Saginaw Valley State is midfielder Briar-Rose Mackey who has recorded a team-leading nine goals.
HISTORY BETWEEN CSP AND SVSU
The two programs saw each other twice last season during SVSU's inaugural year where CSP won both meetings.
In the first meeting, Concordia earned a dominant 18-3 victory led by hat-tricks from Susie Monson, Sydney Smith and Shelby Hansen.
In the second meeting, CSP picked up right where they left off, winning 20-2 to outscore the Cardinals 38-5 in the two games. Leading the Golden Bears in game two was Cayla Jungwirth who scored a senior day hat-trick to wrap-up her home playing career.
