Women’s soccer
NDSU improved to 4-1 in the Summit League with a 2-0 win at Western Illinois. It was the first away win of the season for the Bison.
The action really kicked off in the second half, and came from a familiar source. Malley O’Brien scored on the hour mark to break the 0-0 deadlock. The junior reacted first to a deflection off Danielle Algera’s effort and swept the ball past the keeper. The goal was O’Brien’s team leading fifth goal of the season.
Marian Taiwo opened her NDSU account 15 minutes later to ice the game for the Bison. The freshman took a pass from Malana Vachon, spun around a defender and fired home to make it 2-0.
NDSU maintained the lead despite being outshot by the Leathernecks 21-9, including a 7-4 on-goal advantage for WIU.
Monica Polgar made seven saves to collect her fourth clean sheet of the season.
NDSU return to Dacotah Field to close out the home regular season on Sunday against Fort Wayne.
Women’s cross country
In the final tune-up before the Summit League Championship, the NDSU women’s cross country team took home their sixth straight UND Ron Pynn Classic title.
The Bison placed eight runners in the top-12 in the dominating victory that featured four personal best times.
Freshman Kelby Anderson led the charge of Bison. Anderson’s personal best time of 17:44.1 in the 5k event ranked her fifth all-time at the distance.
Ten seconds behind was Annika Rotvold, who finished second with a PR at 17:54.4. A group of Bison followed, with Peyton Frolek coming home third in 18:03.6. Ashley Perez finished fourth at 18:05.9, and Emma Kusch Dahle rounded out the scoring with a time of 18:08.0 to place sixth.
Kayla Huhnerkoch, Melina Kuerschner and Brynnan Covington finished ninth, 10th and 12th, respectively, to round out the Bison.
NDSU women’s cross country returns to action Oct. 28 at the Summit League Championships.
Men’s cross country
The Bison men’s cross country team joined the women on the top step for the sixth time at the UND Ron Pynn Classic.
NDSU’s Camron Roehl won the 8k event while competing unattached. His time of 24:41.5 was 45 seconds faster than his previous best at the distance.
Elliot Stone led the Bison scorers, coming in with a time of 24:52.8, good enough for fourth place.
Three Bison crossed the finish in close proximity to each other. Derek Warner led the group in at 24:58.0 in sixth place. He was directly followed by Brant Gilbertson and Tim Heikkila, who finished in 24:59.6 and 25:01.1, respectively.
Evan Kottsick rounded out the scoring with an 11th-place finish in 25:13.9.
The Bison will next run Oct. 28 at the Summit League Championships in Vermillion, South Dakota.