North Dakota State vs. Drake
Friday, August 19 | 7 p.m.
Dacotah Field | Fargo, N.D.
Live Stats

North Dakota State vs. Northern Iowa
Sunday, August 21 | 1 p.m.
Dacotah Field | Fargo, N.D.
Live Stats

NDSU Notes (PDF) | Live Video (all matches)

NDSU soccer on Twitter: @NDSUsoccer

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Quick Notes:

• The defending Summit League regular season champion North Dakota State University women's soccer team kicks off the 2016 regular season with a pair of home matches against Drake and Northern Iowa on Friday, Aug. 19, and Sunday, Aug. 21.
• Friday's contest against Drake will mark the beginning of the 21st season of Bison soccer. NDSU has an all-time record of 213-152-29 entering the 2016 campaign.
• North Dakota State returns seven starters from last season's Summit League regular season championship team, including six All-Summit League honorees.
• The Bison welcome back reigning Summit League Offensive Player of the Year Lauren Miller and Freshman of the Year Britney Monteon.
• North Dakota State finished last season with a 13-6-1 overall record and went unbeaten in Summit League play for the first time in program history at 7-0-1.

The Series Against Drake
        Friday's regular season opener against the Drake Bulldogs will mark the ninth meeting in the all-time series that dates back to 2004. Drake leads the series 5-2-1. The last time the Bison and the Bulldogs met on the pitch was during the 2014 season with Drake claiming a 3-0 victory in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
The Series Against Northern Iowa
        Sunday's contest against UNI will mark the ninth meeting in the all-time series that dates back to 2004. The Bison lead the series, 5-3-0. The last time NDSU and Northern Iowa met was during the 2012 season with North Dakota State falling to UNI in double overtime, 2-1, in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
 
Scouting Drake

• Drake is coming off a 3-1 exhibition win against Northern Illinois and a 0-0 exhibition draw against Minnesota last weekend.
• Friday's contest against the Bison will be the Bulldogs' regular season opener.
• Drake was tabbed the preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches' poll.
• The Bulldogs, the reigning Missouri Valley Conference regular season champions, compiled an overall record of 7-9-2 last season but went unbeaten in MVC competition at 4-0-2.
• Drake returns its top offensive player from last season in reigning MVC Player of the Year Rebecca Rodgers, who netted a team-high 10 goals and dished out three assists for a team-best 23 points. She also tallied a team-high three game-winning goals. Rodgers is a Preseason All-MVC First Team selection.
• Drake also welcomes back the 2015 MVC Goalkeeper of the Year, Brooke Dennis. Last season, Dennis went 6-8-2 in-goal with a pair of shutouts and compiled a 1.43 goals-against average. She surrendered 23 goals and made 97 saves in 1,451 minutes between the pipes.
• As a team, Drake averaged 1.61 goals per game last season while surrendering 1.61 goals per game to opponents.
• The Bulldogs are under the leadership of ninth season head coach Lindsey Horner (62-71-23 overall record at Drake).

 
Scouting Northern Iowa

• Northern Iowa enters the week after falling at Iowa, 2-0, on Friday, Aug. 12, and playing to a 1-1 draw against Minnesota State at home Tuesday, Aug. 16. Both matches were exhibition contests.
• UNI will play at North Dakota on Friday for its regular season opener before traveling to Fargo on Sunday to take on the Bison.
• The Panthers were picked sixth out of seven teams in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches' poll.
• Northern Iowa compiled an overal record of 7-9-5 and went 1-3-2 in MVC play last season.
• UNI's top returning offensive player from last season is forward Brynell Yount, who scored four goals, including two game-winning goals, and compiled one assist for nine total points.
• The Panthers also bring back goalkeeper Whitney Blunt. Last season, Blunt went 7-9-5 between the pipes with seven shutouts. She compiled a 0.89 goals-against average and surrendered just 18 goals while making 97 saves in 1,826 minutes.
• As a team last season, UNI averaged 1.14 goals per game while limiting its adversaries to just 0.95 goals per game.
• Northern Iowa is under the direction of former North Dakota State assistant and associate head coach Chris Logan, who is in his first season at UNI.

 
Catching Up with The Herd

• Entering Friday's 2016 regular season opener, NDSU is coming off a 4-0 exhibition loss at Nebraska and a 3-1 exhibition victory over Manitoba.
• In the Bison's exhibition win over Manitoba on Aug. 11, junior Anna Reinholz, freshman Mariah Haberle and sophomore Britney Monteon netted NDSU's three goals, while Haberle and senior Lauren Miller assisted on the goals from Reinholz and Haberle. Monteon's goal was a penalty-kick.
• Dating back to 2010, NDSU is 5-3-2 in exhibition competition.
• North Dakota State is 14-7-0 all-time in regular season openers. The Bison lost their 2015 regular season opener at Minnesota, 3-0.
• For the first time in program history, North Dakota State was picked as the preseason favorite in The Summit League preseason coaches' poll.
• The Bison welcome eight newcomers in freshmen Monica Polgar (GK), Mariah Haberle (F), Anna Triller (MF), Laura Powell (D), Emily Boyer (MF), Julia Densmore (D) and Leah Emerson (F), and transfer Malley O'Brien (MF).
• North Dakota State returns 92 percent of its scoring from last season.
• The Bison return every player who netted a game-winning goal in 2015.

 
Looking Back at 2015

• The Bison tallied a 13-6-1 overall record and went unbeaten in Summit League play at 7-0-1 for the first time in program history, claiming the league's regular season championship for the first time since 2009.
• The 13 wins marked the most victories since the 2011 season.
• NDSU went a perfect 4-0-0 at home in Summit League competition.
• The Bison has a program record nine student-athletes earn All-Summit League honors, including Offensive Player of the Year Lauren Miller, Goalkeeper of the Year Sierra Bonham and Freshman of the Year Britney Monteon. In addition, head coach Mark Cook was voted The Summit League Coach of the Year.
• Miller and Amy Yang were named to the NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region Third Team.
• Miller, Yang and Meghan Johnston were voted to The Summit League Academic All-League Team.
• Miller set a new NDSU single-season record for goals (18) and points (41).
• Bonham tied the NDSU single-=season record with 111 saves.

 
Head Coach Mark Cook
        Mark Cook is in his fifth season at the helm of the North Dakota State soccer program after being named head coach in 2012.  He is the fourth head coach in the 20-year history of the program.
        Cook led NDSU to its first Summit League regular season title since 2009 with a 7-0-1 Summit League record in 2015. It was the first time in program history the Bison finished league play unbeaten. NDSU qualified for its seventh consecutive Summit League tournament and advanced to the tournament championship match for the second time in three seasons before falling to South Dakota State to finish the season at 13-6-1 overall. A program record nine student-athletes earned All-Summit League honors, including Goalkeeper of the Year Sierra Bonham, Offensive Player of the Year Lauren Miller and Freshman of the Year Britney Monteon. In addition, Cook was voted The Summit League Coach of the Year. Miller, along with Amy Yang, were named to the NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region Third Team to become the first Bison to be named NSCAA All-Region since 2003 and the first for North Dakota State in the Division I era.
        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.
        Cook holds the United States Soccer Federation 'A' coaching license, the highest certification available in the U.S.  He also has the NSCAA Premier License and Director of Coaching Diploma.
        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.
 
On the Horizon
        North Dakota State travels to California for its first road matches of the season. The Bison are scheduled to take on Cal State Northridge in Northridge, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 26, before concluding the road trip with a match at UC Riverside in Riverside, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 28.