Scene Setter
                The North Dakota State women's soccer team stays on the road for the second straight week for a pair of weekend matches against North Dakota. The two teams will face each other on Friday, March 12 and Sunday, March 14, with both matches scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Both matches will be played at Bronson Field in Grand Forks, N.D.
 
2021 Spring Season Attendance Policy
                For matches played in the Dacotah Field Bubble during the 2021 spring season, fans will not be allowed due to space limitations from the Covid-19 Pandemic.
 
The Series with North Dakota
                The Bison own a 9-5-1 lead in the all-time series that dates to a 2-1 NDSU victory on Oct. 23, 1997 in Grand Forks. The Bison have won the last two meetings and own a 7-2-1 record against the Fighting Hawks during the NCAA Division I era. The Bison average 2.2 goals per match over the 15 meetings with North Dakota.
 
North Dakota State Notes

• The Bison hit the road last weekend for the first time this season, dropping a pair of 1-0 and 3-0 matches against defending league champion Denver.
• For the second straight weekend, North Dakota State earned a weekend sweep with 3-2 and 2-0 wins over Omaha February 26 & 28.
• In the series opener, senior Marian Taiwo scored three goals, as the Bison won in overtime 3-2.
• The victory on Feb. 28 was the fifth-straight win for NDSU, the longest winning streak since winning six in a row in 2011.
• NDSU earned a weekend sweep of Western Illinois Feb. 19 & 21, pitching a shutout in both matches. This marks the first time since three-straight 2-0 victories during the 2017 season NDSU has posted three shutouts in a row. NDSU has a pair of school record five match shutout streaks in 1999 and 2011.
• Freshman Olivia Lovick scored both goals in the win on Sunday. She now has four career goals in four matches played.
• The Bison split the opening weekend of league play with Kansas City. The Roos took a 3-2 decision on Friday, while the Bison bounced back with a 2-0 shutout on Sunday.

 
About North Dakota

• The Fighting Hawks are 2-2 on the year after a weekend sweep of Western Illinois. The first two matches of the year were canceled against Oral Roberts before the Fighting Hawks were swept 5-0 and 2-0 by Omaha.
• Hallie Byzewski ranks 65th in the nation with 5.00 saves per game, while ranking 86th with a .833 save percentage. She also ranks 111th with a shutout.
• In addition to Byzewski, Madi Livingston has appeared in the net for 90 minutes, allowing five goals, while notching two saves.
• Olivia Valdivia and Mara Yapello each have a game-winning goal for the Fighting Hawks. Hannah Olson scored the only other goal for the Fighting Hawks this season.

 
NDSU in Season Openers
                With a 3-2 loss to Kansas City on Feb. 12, the Bison dropped to 16-10 all-time in season openers. Last year, the Bison beat St. Mary's 1-0 on August 23, winning the season opener for the second-straight year. The Bison are now 9-4-1 all-time in the Summit League opener.
 
Lovick Among Nation's Best
                Freshman Olivia Lovick is one of 16 freshman across the country that have scored four or more goals this season. A majority of those players have played in over 10 matches, as some teams played during both the fall and spring seasons. Lovick is the only player among the 15 that scored four goals in the first four matches of their collegiate careers against NCAA schools.
 
25 Years of NDSU Soccer
                The 2019 season marked the 25th season of soccer at NDSU. In the first 25 years of NDSU soccer, the Bison owned a 248-184-31 (.569) all-time record, including a 131-43-8 (.742) mark in home matches. In six seasons at Dacotah Field, the Bison are 35-17-3 (.664). Pete Cuadrado is the all-time leader in wins with 93 in nine seasons as head coach from 2003-11. The Bison have had a winning record in 18 of the 25 seasons played.
 
NDSU Picked Seventh in Summit League Preseason Poll
                The North Dakota State women's soccer team is picked to finish seventh in the Summit League Women's Soccer Preseason Poll, announced Tuesday, Jan. 26 by the league office.
                NDSU finished fifth in the standings last season, missing the conference tournament for the first time in 10 years. The Bison received 25 points in the poll, sitting three points ahead of Omaha and four points behind North Dakota. Defending league champion Denver was picked to repeat with seven first place votes and 63 points, while South Dakota State was picked second with 58 points and the remaining two first place votes. Oral Roberts (45 points), South Dakota (41) and Kansas City (32) rounded out the top five.
                The top four regular-season finishers will qualify for The Summit League Women's Soccer Championship, which will be played in Omaha April 15-17.
 
Last Time Out
                Denver scored a pair of goals in the first 13 minutes of the match Sunday, as the Pioneers beat the North Dakota State soccer team 3-0 at the Diane Wendt Sports Complex. The loss dropped the Bison to 5-3, while Denver improved to 8-1 overall and 8-0 in the Summit League.
                Denver's first goal came in the eighth minute, as Natalie Beckman and Alex Nillen found Meg Halvorson for the goal. In the 13th minute, It was Beckman again with the assist, this time with a pass to Sydney Sharp. The final goal came in the 73rd minute, as Malak Rafik found Taylor Wells.
                Lavin Douglass, Ellie Schneider, Katrina Patscot and Maddie Burnstein each had a shot for the Bison, with Schneider's coming on goal. Abby Wilkinson had five saves in the net, as she dropped to 2-2 on the year. Denver had a 14-4 advantage in shots, including 8-1 on goal.
 
Last Time Against North Dakota
                The North Dakota State soccer team picked up a big 1-0 victory over North Dakota Oct. 31, 2019 at Dacotah Field. NDSU moved to 7-2-1 against North Dakota in the NCAA Division I era. NDSU moved to 8-6-3 overall and 3-2-2 in the Summit League with the win, while North Dakota dropped to 10-7-1 overall and 4-4 in league play.
                The lone goal of the match came from NDSU's leading scorer in Elyse Huber. A corner kick by Ellie Schneider came into the box, with Huber heading the ball to the right side of the net in the 66th minute. After a deflection from a North Dakota player, the ball found the back of the net. It was the 11th goal of the season for Huber and the first career assist for Schneider. It was the 10th match decided by one goal for NDSU this year, as the Bison are 5-5 in those matches.
                Huber finished with nine shots, while Schneider and Paige Goaley each added three. Huber had four shots on goal, with Goaley, Laura Powell and Schneider each having a pair. Monica Polgar picked up her eighth win in the net, as she recorded eight saves in the victory.
                Polgar moved into a tie for fourth in NDSU history with her 102nd save of the season, while moving into a tie for sixth in single-season shutouts with six. Huber continued to sprinkle her name across the NDSU record books, moving into the top six in four categories on the night. She now ranks fourth in shots on goal (40) and shots (78), while she's tied for third with five game-winning goals. Huber is also tied for sixth in school history with 11 goals this season.
                The match was the final one at Dacotah Field for five NDSU seniors. The Bison were 19-11-3 in the last four years with Polgar, Powell, Huber, Nicky De Pape and Mariah Haberle leading the way.
 
United Soccer Coaches Rankings
                For the second-straight week, the Bison are ranked in the United Soccer Coaches West Region Rankings. The Bison are ranked 10th this week, while they were ranked eighth last week. Denver moved up a spot to sixth, while South Dakota State moved up to seventh. BYU holds down the top spot, while Santa Clara is second.
 
Bison Women's Soccer Earns United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award
                The North Dakota State University women's soccer team earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for exemplary performance in the classroom during the 2019-20 academic year.
                The Bison posted a 3.63 team GPA for 2019-20, extending an impressive run of earning the Team Academic Award for the 18th time in the past 19 years. The 2019-20 school year was the 20th time the Bison have won the award since it was introduced in 1996.
                To qualify for the award, a team must have a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher for the entire academic year.
 
Strand, Douglass Named to Summit League "Players to Watch" List
                Bison sophomores McKenna Strand and Lavin Douglass were named to the "Players to Watch" list by the league coaches. Both players were selected to the Summit League All-Freshman Team last season. Strand appeared in 17 matches, including seven starts. Douglass started 16 of the 18 matches she played in, while scoring a goal against South Dakota.
 
Head Coach Mike Regan
                Mike Regan begins his third season at the head coach of the Bison. An assistant coach for teams in the Missouri Valley and Big Ten Conferences over the previous six seasons before coming to NDSU, Regan was named head women's soccer coach at North Dakota State on Jan. 19, 2018.
                Regan came to NDSU after two seasons as a Big Ten assistant coach at Indiana University in Bloomington. Prior to Indiana, he was an assistant coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, for four seasons where he was part of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference championship team and the 2015 MVC Coaching Staff of the Year. Drake made four consecutive MVC tournament appearances.
                Before joining Drake, Regan was the head coach for the North Iowa Area Community College men's soccer team for five seasons, where he posted an impressive record of 74-17-6 and was named the NJCAA/ICCAC Men's Soccer Coach of the Year three times.
                Regan also has extensive coaching experience at the youth level. He is currently a staff coach with the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Girls Olympic Development Program and served as the head coach of the Iowa ODP '98 age group for three years. Regan holds a National 'A' Coaching License from the United States Soccer Federation.
                Regan earned a bachelor's degree from Waldorf College in 2009 and a master's degree from California University of Pennsylvania in 2011.
 
On the Horizon
                The Bison will be on the road again next weekend, as NDSU travels up I-29 to face North Dakota on Friday, March 12 and Sunday, March 14. Both matches are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. in Grand Forks.