ST. PAUL, Minn. - Despite a double-double from senior goalie
Candace McDole, Concordia-St. Paul (4-6, 0-2 GLIAC) wasn't able to topple nationally-ranked #16 Grand Valley State (5-4, 1-0 GLIAC) in a 17-10 loss on Friday night at the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium.
McDole produced the second-most saves (19) and ground balls (10) while registering a save percentage above .500 (.528) amid a busy night, facing 46 total shots and 36 shots on goal by the visiting Lakers.
She was only one save and two ground balls shy of the single game records, held by Katie Lottsfeldt in 2017 and 2018, respectively. McDole has averaged 9.56 saves per game through the first nine games, 1.25 saves per game more than the current school record of 8.31 set by Lottsfeldt in 2017 and her .467 season save percentage is the second-best in team history, trailing only Lottsfeldt's .500 mark in the shortened 2020 season.
Grand Valley struck first, just over a minute into play and had a two goal lead after two and a half minutes before
Laurelle Weisbrod put the Golden Bears on the scoreboard midway through the quarter.
GV responded with a 5-0 scoring run that spanned nearly 11:30 of play, taking a 7-1 lead with 10:32 to play in the second quarter.
Concordia was able to trim the lead to four, 7-3, when
Taylor Preece set-up
Lauren Sheets for a goal just 30 seconds after
Morgan Haapala scored at the 9:15 mark, but the Lakers countered with four-straight goals late in the second quarter.
Anna Fisher's goal with 1:45 to play in the half put CSP down 11-4 at the break, and started a stretch of lacrosse that featured CSP and GV playing to a 2-2 tie from the last three minutes of the first half that spanned until nearly the first 10 minutes of the third quarter.
The Lakers would finally get a 10-goal lead with 1:02 to play in the third quarter, carrying a 15-5 margin into the fourth.
The Golden Bears rallied from there, though, scoring the first five goals of the fourth quarter, trailing 15-10 with 4:29 to play in the contest and showing late signs of a comeback. Five different players scored during the run with three different players delivering assists.
But the Lakers would snare the ensuing draw, scoring on the possession, adding another draw and controlling the ball for the full possession clock, firing one shot at the crossbar and two others saved by McDole before finally netting the 17th goal.
While McDole was busy in the cage, defender
Paige Nicklaus was busy in front of her, securing three caused turnovers as CSP had 11 caused turnovers compared to 12 for GV in the game.
The offense was paced by freshmen
Sara Kaiser (2g, 1a) and
Lauren Sheets (1g, 2a) who each had three-point performances. Sheets leads the team with 39 points including team-highs of 31 goals and tied for the team-lead with eight assists while Kaiser is third on the team with 11 goals and fourth with 14 points. Sheets has had at least three points in eight of the last nine games while Kaiser has multiple points in five-straight.
Weisbrod (2g) and Preece (1g, 1a) each had two points, as well.
Grand Valley was led by Molly Bursinger's game-highs of seven points and five goals while Hailey Crittenden added five points on three goals and a pair of assists.
The Lakers held a decisive edge on the draw, with a 22-8 margin in draw controls led by Bursinger and Maddy Champagn's eight draw controls apiece.
The draw controls led to the final 46-18 shot margin in favor of the visitors, with McDole piling up her 19 saves compared to just five total between GV's two goalies.
The Golden Bears netted 10 goals against the Lakers for the first time in the nine game series history, topping their previous high of five goals against GV while the 7-goal final margin was the closest game between the clubs.
Concordia will continue GLIAC play with a Sunday matchup against Davenport in the Concordia Dome at noon.