FARGO, N.D. ? Junior Nicole Rand registered a goal and an assist in leading North Dakota State to its first Summit League victory, defeating IUPUI 3-1 at the Ellig Sports Complex.  The Bison improve to 7-4-0 on the season and are 1-1-0 in conference play.

NDSU jumped on the Jaguars (1-8-2, 0-2-0) quickly as freshman Abbey Stratton fired a free kick on IUPUI goalkeeper Jamie Farrell in the third minute of the game which hit the cross bar and deflected into the net to put the Bison on top 1-0.  It was the second goal of the season for Stratton, with both coming off free kicks.

North Dakota State kept the pressure on, as in the 14th minute Rand took the ball into the corner, then delivered a perfect pass to teammate Lorraine Thompson at the top of the box who fired a shot past Farrell to give the Bison the 2-0 advantage.  It was the second goal of the season for Thompson, as well as the second assist of the year for Rand.

NDSU would take the 2-0 lead well into the second half until the Jaguars' MaryBeth McMillan ended up with the ball in traffic at the top of the box and put a shot past goalkeeper Monica Morgan to cut the deficit to one.  But Rand would ice the game for North Dakota State with a 20 yard shot from the left angle that lobbed over goalkeeper Maeghan Parks' head.  It was Rand's second goal of the season and she has now tallied two goals and an assist in the last two outings for NDSU.

Morgan made four saves on the afternoon to improve her season total to 53 and her career total to 135, which moves her into a tie with Tara Sweeney (1999-02) for third place on the Bison's all-time list.  It was also Morgan's 19th victory in net for NDSU, moving her into sole possession of second place on the all-time wins list, nine victories behind the all-time leader Kelly Tierney (1999-02).

"The nicest thing about this win today was that we had a game plan, and we stuck with it," said head coach Pete Cuadrado.  "It's always nice to get a victory, and especially to get the first (Summit League win).  I'm very happy with the overall effort."

North Dakota State will go for it's second straight Summit League victory when it hosts IPFW on Sunday, Oct. 7, at the Ellig Sports Complex.  It will be the first meeting between the two schools since the Bison defeated the Mastodons 1-0 in the United Soccer Conference tournament semifinal last season.  Kick-off is set for 12 p.m.