The Bison soccer team wrapped up their non-conference schedule on Thursday night against NAIA opponent Saint Ambrose. Up to this point in the season, the Bison would either play a great defensive match or a great offensive match. They could never get those two at the same time.
That changed on Thursday night. The Bison beat Saint Ambrose 5-0 with a season-high 5 goals in a game, and it resulted in their 5th shutout of the season credited to the Bison defense and goalie Payton Mulberry. The Bison only allowed 4 shots the entire match and got 33 shots of their own. Three Bison got their first goal of the season and they were Hannah Arnold, Madalyn Grate, and Olivia Lovick. Olivia Watson got her 3rd goal of the season, along with Devon Kavanagh getting her 4th of the season. The Bison were out to a 3-0 lead when halftime came, so they had an opportunity to get some young players in the match towards the second half.
There were 15 fouls in this match, 10 coming from NDSU and 5 from Saint Ambrose. It was an overall very clean match for NDSU and it resulted in their 4th win of the season, coming to a 4-4-2 record heading into Summit League conference play. It was also senior night at Dacotah Field for the Bison, and they have 8 seniors on their roster. Katilyn Hanson from Lakeville, Minnesota, Elana Webber from Gretna, Nebraska, Olivia Watson from Moorhead, Minnesota, Madalyn Grate from Rosemount, Minnesota, Jess Hanley from Plymouth, Minnesota, Loretta Wacek from St. Paul, Minnesota, Olivia Lovick from Lino Lakes, Minnesota, and Alicia Nead from Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
The Bison head into conference play Thursday at Omaha. They will continue their road trip to Kansas City on Sunday and the following Sunday at UND. Their next home game is against Oral Roberts on Thursday, Oct. 10th. The Bison are looking for their first winning season in conference play since 2018, when they fell to Denver in the Summit League championship 0-3. Around the Summit League, the Bison are 6th in overall record out of 9 teams in the Summit League through the non-conference slate of the season. The Bison and the Fighting Hawks of UND have the same record in 4-4-2, and they face off on October 6th in Grand Forks. South Dakota State sits atop the Summit League with a 7-2-1 overall record. Omaha is in 2nd place with a 6-1-2 record. The Bison take on Omaha in their next match, which will be a great challenge for them.
NDSU’s Morgan Russman still leads the Summit League in shots and shots on goal through 10 matches of play, continuing her fantastic season. Devon Kavanagh is top 3 in multiple stats in the Summit League, including Shots, Goals, Assists, Game-Winning Goals, and Points. She leads the league in points with 11, tied with St Thomas’s Lexi Huber.