The Bison soccer team entered the weekend with their toughest task of the season: facing off with the Jacks of South Dakota State, who were in first place in the Summit League. The Herd entered this huge matchup with a conference record of 3-1-1 and 7-5-3 overall. The winner of this game would take the lead in the conference and have a great opportunity to be the first seed in the conference tournament.

South Dakota State

This match was about as solid of a defensive match as it gets. There were just 18 total shots with only four shots on goal. The one single goal that NDSU got was from Morgan Russman who scored her team-leading 7th goal of the season 30 minutes into the 1st half. This match was a signature 2024 Bison soccer win as the Herd claimed just one goal but did not allow a goal. A 1-0 victory would result in the biggest win for the Bison soccer program in the past few seasons. Payton Mulberry has continued to impress and keeps giving the Bison great chances to win. The Bison would now have the commanding lead of the conference, being 4-1-1 in Summit League play. 

South Dakota 

The Coyotes, entering this match, were 6th in the conference with a 1-1-3 overall record. This match became a must-win on short notice after the Bison’s huge victory over SDSU. This match, unlike the SDSU one, was very eventful. Just 10 minutes in, Gabrielle Garrett scored her first goal of 2024, assisted by Devon Kavanagh. The Bison would have a 1-0 lead, and it continued into halftime. The 2nd half is where the fireworks started, as right away in the 2nd half, Morgan Russman scored a goal on a penalty kick to give the Herd a 2-0 lead. Just two minutes later, South Dakota responded with a goal of their own from Ashby Johnston to cut the lead in half at 2-1. Within the next 15 minutes, Hannah Arnold and Morgan Russman would get goals of their own to extend the lead to 4-1. The Coyotes would get a goal of their own, but by then, it was too late for South Dakota, and the Bison would claim the 4-2 win to advance to 5-1-1 in conference play and 9-5-3 overall. 

Looking ahead

The Bison will close out the regular season with a match against the winless St. Thomas Tommies next Sunday at 1 p.m. at Dacotah Field. With a win over the Tommies, the Bison can win the Summit League title and have the No. 1 seed heading into the tournament. The No. 1 seed and No. 2 seeds get byes, which is huge for a potential conference championship push. If the Bison get a top-two seed, they will have their next match after St. Thomas on Nov. 7th.