Match 17: North Dakota State (7-7-2, 3-2-2 Summit League) at Oral Roberts (3-9-3, 2-4-0 Summit League)
Friday, Oct. 31, 2014 | 7 p.m.
Case Soccer Complex | Tulsa, Okla. 
Live Stats

Social Media: @NDSUsoccer | @NDSUathletics | #SummitWSOC

Complete Weekly Match Notes (PDF)

This Week in NDSU Soccer:
 
NDSU Concludes Regular Season at Oral Roberts Friday
        The North Dakota State University women's soccer team will conclude the 2014 regular season on Friday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla. If the Bison win, they will clinch a spot in The Summit League Women's Soccer Championship scheduled for Nov. 6/8 in Denver, Colo., at Denver's CIBER Field.
 
The Series against Oral Roberts
Friday's Summit League and regular season finale at Oral Roberts will mark the sixth meeting between the Bison and the Golden Eagles on the soccer pitch. NDSU leads the series, 3-1-1. The Bison have won the past three meetings against ORU, including a 1-0 triumph in the most recent meeting between the two teams in 2011. NDSU's lone loss in the series was back in 2008 when the Bison dropped a 3-2 decision in double overtime.
 
About Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts enters Friday's match with an overall record of 3-9-3 and a Summit League record of 2-4-0 after falling to South Dakota, 1-0, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, in a rescheduled match ... ORU is 1-2-1 at home, 2-6-1 on the road and 0-1-1 at neutral sites this season ... Ashley Martin leads Oral Roberts offensively with a team-high three goals on 16 shots for six total points, while Maria Stordahl has two goals and is tied for the team lead in assists with Madison Valenzuela with three. Stordahl leads the Golden Eagles in total points with seven ... Goalkeeper Helen Erb has made nine starts in 10 games for ORU, tallying 46 saves while allowing 13 goals for a GAA of 1.41. Erb has a record of 3-5-1 in goal with a .780 save percentage ... On the season, ORU averages 0.80 goals per game while giving up 1.80 per game to its opponents.
 
Catching Up with the Bison
NDSU enters Friday's match with an overall record of 7-7-2 and a Summit League tally of 3-2-2 after suffering a 1-0 loss to Denver on Friday, Oct. 24. The setback snapped a five match unbeaten streak for the Bison that dated back to Oct. 3 ... The Bison are 4-3-0 at home and 3-4-2 on the road this season ... NDSU is tied for third in The Summit League standings with Omaha entering Friday's season and league finale. The Bison and Mavs each have 11 points ... On the season, Lauren Miller leads NDSU in goals (8), game-winning goals (4) total points (17), shots (32) and shots on goal (20), while Amy Yang paces NDSU in assists with five and has two goals for nine total points. Anisha Kinnarath has four assists with two goals for eight points. Eight Bison have scored at least one goal this season ... Miller's four game-winning goals are the most in The Summit League ... Goalkeeper Sierra Bonham has played and started in all 16 matches for NDSU, allowing just 15 goals and making 75 saves for a GAA of 0.93. She has a 7-7-2 record between the posts with a team-and Summit League high four shutouts and a .833 save percentage. Bonham ranks second all-time in NDSU program history in career saves with 284 ... As a team, the Bison are averaging 1.25 goals per match while limiting their opponents to just 0.94 per match. NDSU leads The Summit League in GAA (0.90) and goals allowed (15).
 
Summit League Weekly Awards
        Junior forward Lizzie Lukas was tabbed the Summit League Co-Offensive Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 22-24 after she recorded a hat trick in an 8-0 win over Presentation College on Aug. 24. The South St. Paul, Minn., native scored goals in the sixth, 23rd and 52nd minutes of the match.
        Junior goalkeeper Sierra Bonham was named the league's Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 13-19 after she posted a pair of league shutouts for NDSU. Bonham collected four saves in a 1-0 win over South Dakota State on Friday, Oct. 17, before tallying eight saves in the Bison's 1-0 shutout victory over Fort Wayne on Sunday, Oct. 19.
 
NDSU Tabbed Third in Summit League Preseason Poll
        The North Dakota State University women's soccer team was picked to finish third in The Summit League's preseason poll. Reigning league champion Denver was selected as the preseason favorite in a vote of the league's nine head coaches. South Dakota State was second followed by the Bison at third. Oral Roberts was fourth followed by Western Illinois at fifth and Fort Wayne at sixth. IUPUI, Omaha and South Dakota rounded out the poll at seventh, eighth and ninth.
 
Head Coach Mark Cook
        Mark Cook is entering his third season at the helm of the North Dakota State soccer program after being named head coach on Jan. 25, 2012.  He is the fourth head coach in the 17-year history of the program.
        Last season, Cook led NDSU to an overall record of 9-10 and a third place finish in The Summit League with a record of 4-3. The Bison advanced to The Summit League tournament championship match with a 2-1 upset win over South Dakota State before falling to Denver to finish runner-up in the event. It was NDSU's fifth straight appearance in the league tournament.
        Cook came to NDSU after serving as the Director of Coaching at the Minnesota Thunder Academy for 11 years, where he grew a four-team program into one of the premier club programs in the Twin Cities with 65 teams in 2012.
        He graduated from Alfred (N.Y.) University in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in communications. He was the starting goalkeeper at Alfred for two years.
 
The Opposing Coaches
Roger Bush - Oral Roberts
        After four seasons as an assistant coach, Roger Bush was named the head coach prior to the 2013 season. In the first season with Bush at the helm, the Golden Eagles went 15-4-1, a new school record for victories, and finished second in the Southland Conference with a 10-2 mark.
        Before coming to ORU as an assistant, Bush was a head coach for seven years at Charles Page High School.
        In addition to leading the ORU women's soccer team, Bush also serves as the director of coaching at the West Side Alliance Soccer Club in Tulsa, a post he has held for 17 years.
        Bush earned his bachelor of science degree in biology (pre-med) from the University of Tulsa in 1996.