The NDSU Women’s Soccer team has been holding strong this season (4-4-4, 0-1-2). The team had two home games on September 21 and September 24. On the 21st, they faced Kansas City at Dacotah Field. The Bison started strong, bringing in their first, and only, goal in the first half at the 30-minute mark. The goal was secured by Kelsey Kallio, her first goal of the season. Kansas City ended up scoring in the second half, ending the game in a 1-1 draw. Omaha came to Fargo on September 24th, at Dacotah Field on a lovely Sunday afternoon. The Bison scored 2 goals within four minutes in the first half, scored by Kelsey Kallio and McKenna Strand. Once again, the opposing team got their second goal in the final half, making the score, once again tied, 2-2.

 The team went against its rival, South Dakota State, on September 28th, at Fishback Soccer Park in Brookings. The Jackrabbits, who were 2-0-0 in the Summit League, scored a goal in the first half by Jaden Carrillo from her rebound. The goal makes it Carrillo’s fourth goal of the season for the Jackrabbits. In the opening half, freshman midfielder, Hannah Arnold, took the corner kick, but the ball went slightly too wide, and just barely missed the net. Within the first couple minutes of the second half, Senior Alyssa Nead had a beautiful shot on net from within the penalty box, but it was lifted a couple of inches too high. Later in the half, Kelsey Kalico got a shot off of the rebound but went just outside of the left post. Jackrabbit goalkeeper, Jocelyn Tanner, had to make multiple saves in the half to maintain their goal stance. The Bison kept up their intensity, and Wilkinson only had to make two saves. This is NDSU’s sixth straight year in which they have lost to SDSU, where the vast majority of these competitions have only been one lead goal win for the Jacks. Since 2000, SDSU has won 17 times, and NDSU has won 11 times. Wilkinson finalized her save count at the end of the game with a total of seven saves on net. The Bison ended up falling one goal short of SDSU, despite the close and unlucky shots from the midfielders.

 North Dakota State’s soccer team played the University of South Dakota, in Vermillion, they fell one goal short, the score was 2-1. The Coyotes scored two goals in the first minutes of the game, using the only two shots that they had on the net for the first 45 minutes of the half. NDSU continued the rest of the half to fight and keep the ‘Yotes in their place, with the ball being in the offensive end for the majority of the remaining half and having 12 shots on the USD net. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get the Bison on the board. In the second half, the Bison fought back. Gabrielle Garrett got possession of the ball and passed it to Amaya Garrett. Out of the four shots on the net for the second half, Garrett scored to get the Bison on the board. Even though Garrett has had a few opportunities during the season, being a freshman, this is her first goal as a Bison during the regular season. It was a very exciting moment for Garrett in Vermillion. USD had double what the Bison had for fouls in the second, not to mention having more fouls in the first also. The Bison ended the game with 16 shots at the First Bank and Trust Soccer Complex. NDSU ended with a total of seven shots on goal, while USD had six. Wilkinson had four saves for the Bison, while for the ‘Yotes, Caroline Lewis ended with six for South Dakota. 

The Bison have their last game of the season at Dacotah Field at 6:30 p.m. NDSU hopes to break the losing streak with Denver and come out with a win in the regular season finale.