Soccer closes out season at Golden Bears

It’s come down to the final game of the season and the Minnesota State Mavericks’ soccer team has one last chance to step into the first seed in the NSIC against Concordia-St. Paul.

Although, it is not entirely up to them.

The Mavericks need to take down their opponent in the Golden Bears, which they have done time and time again, but they will also be Minnesota-Crookston’s biggest fan this weekend when they take on the top seeded Bemidji State.

While it’s extremely unlikely with Minnesota-Crookston only grabbing one win the entire year and Bemidji State has yet to be given an L, miracles can happen.

For now, MSU just needs to focus on what they can do to keep their No. 2 position in the NSIC and their No. 4 ranking in the NCAA Central Region rankings.

Since the 2002 season, the Mavericks are 18-1 against the CSP Golden Bears, taking their first loss against the squad in 2017, when they were taken down 1-0. 

In the two team’s 19 matches against each other, the Mavericks have outscored their opponent 66-8, and most recently shutting out the Golden Bears in a 3-0 win in November of 2019 in the NSIC Championship game.

Needless to say, Concordia-St. Paul wants their revenge.

This season, CSP is sitting sixth in the conference with a 9-6-2 overall record (8-4-2 NSIC) and 26 points.

Concordia-St. Paul is coming off of a two win weekend, taking down the same opponents the Mavericks did in Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State.

The Mavericks, however, have all of the momentum in their favor, having not lost a match since the middle of September in their 1-0 loss against Augustana.

It will be the last road game of the regular season for the Mavericks until they come back home and play at their home pitch in the NSIC Tournament’s first round.