On Sunday, the Bison soccer team faced Idaho State for the second time in program history. The last meeting was in August 2012, when the Bengals defeated the Bison 3-2. This would be the Bison’s first game at home since August 22nd, so they were looking forward to being back home.
The Bison defense shone once again in this one, as they didn’t give up a single goal in the entire match. The match eventually ended in a 0-0 tie, and the Bison record would move to 3-2-2 to keep themselves above 500. There were only 23 shots in this match, and 14 of them came from the herd. Both teams had 5 saves, resulting in 10 saves the entire match, so the goalies from both sides had an easier day.
This game had a few fouls, as the Bison had 9, and the Bengals had 10. Overall, there wasn’t much action in this game and zero scoring, which is the upside for this Bison defense as they now average under 1 goal given up per game with 0.75/goals per match allowed. That is a recipe for success, but the offense only averages 1.14/goals per match. Overall, this team has played tough defense and has done pretty well on offense. If they can squeeze out a few more goals here and there, they will win a lot of matches this season.
Going forward, the Bison have three non-conference matches remaining. The next one is Thursday, Sept. 12th, at Dacotah Field. They will travel to Minneapolis on Sunday, the 15th, for a match and then return home for one final non-conference match against Saint Ambrose before beginning conference play on Thursday, Sept. 26th, against Omaha on the road.
Around the Summit League, UND leads the conference in points on offense, and Kansas City leads the conference in Goals allowed. The Bison have the fourth-best defense in the conference, statistically. The Bison have the two league leaders in shots, Morgan Russman and Devon Kevanagh. Russman also leads the Summit League in shots on goal.
As none of the teams have started league play yet, we will take a look at how the rest of the conference is doing. Kansas City has been the best team in the conference overall, with a 4-0-3 record through 7 matches. The Bison play Kansas City on September 29th on the road. Omaha also has an undefeated record, being 4-0-2. The two teams just ahead of the Bison are rivals SDSU and UND. The Bison take on UND on October 6th in Grand Forks and SDSU at home on Oct. 17th.