ST. PAUL, Minn. – This weekend, Concordia-St. Paul puts its 2-0 record to the test, hosting #14 Colorado Mesa (0-1) on Friday at 1 p.m. before welcoming Lewis University (0-2) on Sunday at noon at the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium.

The Golden Bears are seeking the program's first-ever 3-0 start and last had a 2-0 start in the inaugural 2017 campaign which featured opening wins over a pair of non-NCAA DII opponents (Northland & Marian). CSP is also seeking its first four game home winning streak and its first-ever win over a nationally-ranked Division II opponent.
 
ONLINE COVERAGE
Watch the games live online, free of charge through Concordia's single camera webcast via Presto Sports (formerly Stretch Internet). The stream will be available to view on most OTT apps such as the Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire, Android TV and more – search 'NSIC' to download the app!
 
The video features the play-by-play call of Dan Flanagan, voice of the Golden Bears since 2008. The St. Paul native is a graduate of Fordham University (N.Y.) where he trained in broadcasting in multiple sports including the Rams football team in the Patriot League.

The games will also be available to follow along with live stats.
 
SERIES HISTORY: CSP 1, LEWIS 0
Concordia will be playing Colorado Mesa, a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) for the first time and will be facing Lewis for the second time, but the first time in a non-conference contest. Lewis was a member of the GLIAC in 2019 in its first year as a Division II varsity program but have shifted to the GLVC, where the rest of their athletics programs call home as the GLVC began sponsoring lacrosse in 2020 as a league.
 
In last year's meeting, the Golden Bears topped the Flyers 17-8 on the road in Romeoville, Illinois to spark a four game winning streak in GLIAC play. Lewis held the upper hand early, leading 1-0 and 2-1 in the first five minutes before Alina Boyce put CSP ahead with back-to-back goals in the middle of a 4-0 run to claim a 5-2 edge midway through the first half. She finished the game with seven points including five goals including a third in the first half to mount an 11-4 lead at the break.
 
Although Lewis used a 4-2 scoring spurt in the second half, the Flyers never came closer than a seven goal margin after the break.
 
CSP used a 32-17 shot advantage and held a 16-10 edge on the draw led by Lexi Stanley's seven draw controls. Katie Lottsfeldt secured the win in goal, notching nine saves and adding three ground balls.
 
Lewis was led by Alyson Jines with four goals while Scarlet Kellner added two and Mackenzie Turner had a pair of assists. Patricia Fotto had seven ground balls and four caused turnovers and Kellner had six draw controls. Faith Engle took the loss in net, allowing nine goals with three saves in 26:01 while Elizabeth Baeder played the remaining 33:59, allowing eight goals with three saves.
 
ABOUT THE CMU MAVERICKS
Colorado Mesa entered 2020 ranked #14 by the IWLCA Division II Preseason Coaches Poll, but fell 19-7 to former RMAC member #9 Lindenwood at Teton Field in Las Vegas two weeks ago. Ashton Whittle led the Mavericks with four points, scoring three goals and adding three draw controls and Maeve Hungerford had a goal and an assist. Regan Wentz had three caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls while Saran Khalid had three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Goalie Lula Mitchell had 11 saves while allowing 18 goals with five ground balls in 56:22 of play, taking the loss. The Mavericks were outshot by the Lions 39-20 and beat off the draw 21-6 while Lindenwood executed 16-of-17 clears to CMU's 17-of-23 with the Lions also edging CMU 23-16 in ground balls.
 
Last year, the Mavericks were 15-4 overall and 7-2 in the RMAC before falling 20-9 in the RMAC Tournament semifinal to Lindenwood. The Mavericks avenged last year's RMAC Tournament loss in their next contest, beating the Lions 13-9 in the NCAA Midwest Region Tournament before falling to host Regis 16-14 in the regional final. The Mavericks finished third in the RMAC standings in 2019 and were picked second in the 2020 RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll. It was their third straight 7-2 RMAC season and fourth straight third place finish, coming in behind Regis and Lindenwood four straight years. The Mavericks were picked one spot ahead of CSP's opening day opponent, UC-Colorado Springs who the Golden Bears topped 17-2.
 
ABOUT THE LEWIS FLYERS
Lewis begins its second year as an NCAA Division II varsity women's lacrosse program, finishing its inaugural season 1-12 overall and 1-11 in the GLIAC, its lone win coming in an 8-7 home triumph over Maryville University who was also in its first season and like Lewis, has relocated to the GLVC. The Flyers are off to an 0-2 start to the 2020 season, falling 17-7 at Alabama Huntsville and 13-12 to Montevallo on UAH's neutral field last weekend. Prior to coming to St. Paul, the Flyers will face Northern Michigan on the road on Friday night in Marquette, Michigan on the Upper Peninsula.
 
Sarah Bradley leads the Flyers with five goals and six points while Skylar Lucich and Alyson Jines each have four goals, with Jines adding an assist. Jamie Rieger chips in four points including three goals, is tied for the team lead with four caused turnovers and adds five ground balls. Lindsey Traub is disruptive with six ground balls, five draw controls and four caused turnovers while Carlie Serritella leads the team with nine draw controls in two games. Brigid Fornek has played all 120 minutes in goal, allowing 30 goals with 22 saves to her credit for a 15.0 goals against average and .423 save percentage while facing 73 total shots.
 
Through two games, the Flyers have been outshot 75-54 (52-30 SOG), beaten 31-22 on the draw, opponents have secured a 44-34 edge in ground balls and Lewis commits 20.5 turnovers per game.
 
The Flyers were picked fifth in the seven team GLVC Preseason Coaches Poll with 14 points, one ahead of Maryville in sixth but trailing third place Rockhurst (24) by 10 and fourth place McKendree (23) by nine. CSP topped Rockhurst 14-6 last weekend to improve to 2-0.
 
LAST WEEKEND: CSP STARTS 2020 2-0
The Golden Bears cruised to a perfect start over a pair of teams predicted to finish third in their respective leagues, UCCS in the RMAC and Rockhurst in the GLVC, by a combined score of 31-8. Concordia only trailed for less than five cumulative minutes of play the entire weekend and held a 71-33 shot margin (56-26 SOG).
 
Additionally, CSP was decisive on the draw with a 26-16 margin, had 33-26 edge in caused turnovers and 61-49 in ground balls. The team was also dominant in the midfield, executing 38-of-43 (.884) clears and holding opponents to just 24-of-45 (.533).
 
Through one weekend (two games), Concordia leads the country with a .692 save percentage, ranks second in scoring defense (4.0), third in ground balls per game (30.5), fifth in scoring margin (11.5), sixth in caused turnovers per game (16.5) and ninth in shots on goal per game (28.0) among 100 programs in the NCAA Division II statistics. CSP also ranks 17^th in scoring offense (15.5), 24^th in assists (6.0), 25^th in draw controls (13.0) and 27^th in fewest turnovers (20.0).
 
LOTTSFELDT OFF TO DOMINANT START
Senior goalie Katie Lottsfeldt opened the 2020 season by reaching 400 career saves in the opener, and that was just the start of an exceptional weekend in the cage. She exits the opening weekend as the national leader in save percentage (.692) and ground balls (8.5) and ranks third in the country in goals against average (4.86) and 11^th in caused turnovers (3.5).
 
A fourth year starter, Lottsfeldt has a career .430 save percentage, 13.13 goals against average, 413 saves, 233 ground balls and 52 caused turnovers in 51 games while registering 2499:04 of play in goal.
 
PIERSON OFF TO STRONG START
Junior transfer Sarah Pierson leads the team with seven goals, is second on the team with six draw controls and third with five ground balls. She netted five goals in the 14-6 win over Rockhurst in game two.
 
BOYCE RACKING UP POINTS
Senior Alina Boyce, ranked second in career history in points (156), goals (114) and assists (42) has picked up where she left off, tied with Pierson for the team lead with seven points in two games with the 3.5 points, 2.5 goals and 1.0 assist average all ahead of her career average paces. Additionally, 10 of her 11 total shots have been on goal. She trails fellow senior Maddie Hentges in all three career scoring categories (181 pts, 134g, 47a) and while Hentges is off to a slow start with a goal and an assist, her 11 total shots and nine shots on goal suggest successful outcomes are on the horizon.
 
Juniors Katie Moynihan (5g) and Margo Coomes (4g) are also off to strong starts offensively while Mary Keating (3g, 2a), Lex Seifert (2g, 2a) and Taya Schubert (1g, 2a) each have matched Boyce's early season team lead in assists with two.
 
STANLEY CONTINUES TO IMPACT
While she doesn't factor into the attack, junior Lexi Stanley is no stranger to being a top statistical player on the Golden Bears and leads the team early on with seven draw controls and is fourth on the team with four ground balls and second with three caused turnovers. She's second in career history with 84 draw controls and third in career history with 78 ground balls and 47 caused turnovers despite just one full season as a starter as she missed half of her freshman campaign due to medical reasons and has played in 30 career games.
 
SENIOR STANDOUTS ON DEFENSE
While Lottsfeldt is off to a dominant start, she's boosted by the success of the defense in front of her, a group often unsung statistically but vital to the team's 2-0 start and 11-7 finish a year ago. The group of fourth year starting defenders includes Sara Stickler, Kylie Christensen and Cassidy Leininger while freshman Nicole Kuhn has joined the group as a starter. Together, they've limited opponents to just 33 total shots and only 26 looks on goal while opponents have committed 24.5 turnovers per game and converted just 53.3 percent (24-45) of clear attempts.