ST. PAUL, Minn. - In a closely contested Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference (GLIAC) season opener at the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium on Friday, Concordia-St. Paul (4-6, 0-1 GLIAC) dropped a 16-11 contest to Northern Michigan (7-2, 1-0 GLIAC) in front of a standing room only crowd.

The first half featured four ties and three lead changes, but the visiting Wildcats used a 3-goal surge late in the second quarter as part of a 5-1 run to claim a 9-6 lead early in the third quarter, and then broke a 10-9 lead open by scoring the first five goals of the fourth quarter, leading 15-9 with 10:52 to play.

The Golden Bears were unable to take advantage of six NMU yellow cards which included three non-releasable 2-minute advantages. Concordia scored a pair of player-up goals on its six opportunities, but the Wildcats converted on one of their two chances with an advantage, and NMU also had a pair of goals down a player to CSP's one.

The draw was also key to the possession game, where NMU held an 18-13 edge on draw controls, matching the game's 5-goal margin.

Fourth-year sophomore Molly Moynihan led the Golden Bears with five points, scoring three goals and adding a pair of assists, picking up a team-high three draw controls and adding two ground balls.

Senior Delaney Davidson, who eclipsed 100 career goals in CSP's last game at #8 Rollins, added another multi-goal game, doing so in all 10 contests this year as she matched Moynihan's three goal performance, also adding a pair of ground balls.

Defensively, sophomore Lily Walesheck had a big night with six ground balls and three caused turnovers and freshman Maddie Westberg matched her three caused turnovers and chipped in a pair of ground balls.

Freshman Maddy Seifert added another strong all-around efort with a pair of goals on offense while disrupting the Wildcats with four caused turnovers and securing a pair of ground balls.

Junior goalie Candace McDole led the Golden Bears in the cage, playing nearly three quarters of the contest and producing 13 saves with a .565 save percentage. Sophomore goalie Maddy Huebner took her first loss of the year, falling to 3-1 in her return to action after being sidelined due to injury.

The Wildcats were led by sophomore midfielder Madeline Bittell's five goals and 11 draw controls while Maddi Bast added six points, scoring five times and adding an assist. Aliyah Smukala picked up the win with 11 saves including five in the fourth quarter to halt CSP's comeback attempt.

In the final tally, the Golden Bears secured a 25-17 edge in ground balls but the Wildcats fired off 12 more shots, 41-29.

Concordia continues GLIAC play with three straight on the road, starting with a trip to Michigan's mainland to face a pair of ranked opponents, #10 Grand Valley State next Friday afternoon before heading to #24 Davenport on Sunday, March 27. The three game GLIAC road tour concludes on April 2 at Upper Iowa in the first meeting between the programs.