Soccer Earns First Summit League Win Against South Dakota, Falls to UND on the Road

The North Dakota State women’s soccer team entered this past week sitting at 2-3-4 heading into Summit League play, looking to run it back for the regular-season championship. They opened conference play against two Dakota schools: the North Dakota Fighting Hawks and the South Dakota Coyotes.

The Bison first took on UND on the road Thursday afternoon, seeking a conference opening win. The first 30 minutes were quite uneventful until the 33rd minute, when UND opened up the scoring with a Cora Ellermann goal, putting the Fighting Hawks on the board, 1-0.

In the 54th minute, Charlie Basinet extended UND’s lead with a goal of her own assisted by Addison Stadden to put UND up 2-0. Basinet’s afternoon didn't end there; she scored a second goal in the 72nd minute, this time unassisted.

UND held a commanding 3-0 lead late in the game when Cora Ellerman scored her second goal of the game, which was again unassisted. UND took that 4-0 lead through the remainder of the game, taking home the win.

NDSU’s conference opener was spoiled by their rivals from up north, and they dropped to 2-4-4 overall coming home to play the Coyotes on Sunday afternoon. It wouldn't take long for NDSU to get themselves on the board against the Yotes as Morgan Russman scored a goal in the 21st minute assisted by Ava Stanchina.

It took a while for South Dakota to answer, but in the 53rd minute, Brooke Conway tied the game up at one. As it came closer to a tie as a final score, Chloe Birch scored her first goal of 2026 to put the Bison up 2-1.

Despite getting outshot 28-13, the Bison found a way to take home the win and get their conference record evened up at 1-1. The Bison are now 3-4-4 overall on the season after one week of Summit League play.

The Bison are back at Dacotah Field on Saturday as they host the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at 7 p.m., just hours after the Bison football game. They will then host St. Thomas on Oct. 8 before playing Omaha next Sunday.

After a long three-game homestand, the Bison will head south to play Oral Roberts and Kansas City over the weekend of Oct. 15-18. The last three games on the schedule are all Dakota schools.

Only the UND game on Oct. 24 will be at home; the last two will be on the road before the Summit League tournament begins on Nov. 6.