ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (2-2) squared off against a top-10 team in the country for the second time on the young season, coming up short in a 20-13 loss to #1 Lindenwood (3-0) on Sunday afternoon at the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium.

Concordia led 8-7 at the half and kept it close throughout much of the second half before the defending national champion Lions scored five of the last seven goals in the final 10 minutes of the fourth quarter to pull away.

The Golden Bears have now held a lead against a top-10 team in the country in the second half twice in four games this season, leading #9 Regis in the fourth quarter and leading #1 Lindenwood in the third.

Concordia continues a four game homestand at the Concordia Dome on Friday against Missouri Western State at 6 p.m. before hosting Rockhurst on Sunday at noon.

CSP struck first in today's game when Mary Keating scored just under two minutes into play, and after the Lions answered off the draw just 14 seconds later, it was Concordia who reclaimed the momentum as Katie Moynihan scored after four and a half scoreless minutes followed by Keating's second goal of the game for a 3-1 lead with 6:58 to play in the first quarter.

Keating had a big day, leading the team with four goals and three draw controls.

Concordia's early lead was also built on the success of the work from Candace McDole in the net, posting three saves as part of the 3-1 lead through the midway part of the quarter. She went on to save 13 shots in a game in which Lindenwood fired 47 total shots with 33 on goal. In addition to making numerous saves, she secured nine ground balls and added a caused turnover in the crease, as well.

The Lions responded, tying the game at the end of the quarter and going ahead in the opening minute of the second after a 3-goal run for their first lead.

Concordia didn't waiver, as Hailey Hartlage scored her first of two goals to knot the game back at 4-4 when Lindenwood came back for two straight goals and their first two goal advantage.

After the teams traded goals in the middle of the quarter, Concordia put in three straight in the last five minutes of the first half as Maddy Seifert, Molly Moynihan and Sarah Pierson each scored to give Concordia the 8-7 lead at the break.

In the first half, the team stats resembled the closely contested game, with Lindenwood firing 20 shots to CSP's 17, with shots on goal even closer at 14-13. Lindenwood committed 10 turnovers to Concordia's eight and the Golden Bears were slightly more efficient on the clear (8-9) than the Lions (7-9).

The big difference in the first half was on the draw, where Lindenwood held a clear advantage 11-6.

The difference on the draw intensified in the second half, leading the Lions to continue to hold possession advantage. Lindenwood secured eight of the nine draws in the third quarter and eight of the 11 in the fourth to take a 16-4 second half margin and a final 27-10 tally on the draw for the game.

Lexy Biller led Lindenwood's draw, securing a game-high 13.

While the Lions' performance in the center circle made things difficult for Concordia, the Golden Bears kept the Lions within arms reach for most of the second half. Lindenwood reclaimed the lead by scoring the first four goals of the third quarter, although Concordia scored to cut it back to a pair, 11-9 with 2:52 left in the third on the first of two goals by Delaney Davidson.

While Lindenwood strung together three straight goals for a 14-9 lead at the end of the third quarter, Concordia continued to claw back, scoring two of the first three goals in the fourth, trailing by just four (14-10) with 11:13 left in the game.

From there, Lindenwood scored five of the last seven and their continued effective play on the draw allowed them to utilize the clock to its advantage late.

Hartlage, M.Moynihan and Davidson each had two goal games for the Golden Bears to go with Keating's four while Seifert led the team with two caused turnovers.

Lindenwood's attack was led by Bridget Considine with eight points on six goals and two assists while Sara Grieco had three goals and an assist.

Eleanor Kast picked up the win in the cage for Lindenwood, allowing 13 goals while making nine saves.