Scene Setter
                The North Dakota State women's soccer team hits the road for the first time this season for a pair of weekend matches against Denver. The two teams will face each other at 5 p.m. (Central) on Friday, March 5 and at 2 p.m. (Central) on Sunday, March 7. Both matches will be played at the Diane Wendt Sports Complex in Denver, Colo. The two teams enter the weekend in the top two spots in the league standings as the Bison near the halfway point of the season.
 
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 Denver
                The Pioneers own an 8-1-1 lead in the all-time series that dates to a 2-1 Denver victory on Oct. 27, 2013 in Denver. Denver has won the last five meetings and owns a 3-1 record against the Bison in Denver. The only NDSU victory came on Oct. 9, 2015, as the Bison pulled off a 4-3 win in double overtime in Denver.
 
North Dakota State Notes

• For the second straight weekend, North Dakota State earned a weekend sweep with 3-2 and 2-0 wins over Omaha.
• In the series opener, senior Marian Taiwo scored three goals, as the Bison won in overtime 3-2.
• The victory on Sunday 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.
• Senior Brookelyn Dew scored the first goal in each match for the Bison, while Lovick added the second goal in each match.

 
About Denver

• The Pioneers are 6-1 on the year and 6-1 in Summit League play after a weekend sweep of South Dakota.
• Denver ranks 13th in the nation, and first in the Summit League, with 17 assists on the year.
• Natalie Beckman leads the Pioneers with 16 points on five goals and six assists. She has been named the Summit League Offensive Player of the Week each of the last three week.
• Beckman's three game-winning goals ranks eighth in the nation, while she also ranks fifth with six assists.
• Nerea Arrazola has pitched four shutouts in the net, leading the league and ranking 12th in the nation.

 
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 14 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 14 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
                The North Dakota State soccer team pitched its fourth shutout of the season on Sunday, as the Bison beat Omaha 2-0 for NDSU's fifth-straight victory. NDSU improved to 5-1 on the year, while Omaha dropped to 2-2-2. NDSU's five-match winning streak is the longest since the Bison won six-straight matches in 2011.
                Ellie Schneider scored the first Bison goal on Sunday in the 19th minute, putting a header in off a corner kick from Kelsey Kallio. It was the second goal of the season and fourth of Schneider's career, while it was the second assist of the year for Kallio. In the 28th minute, Jess Hanley slipped by the defense for her first collegiate goal. It came off an assist from Katrina Patscot and Aliya Owens, the first assist for both. NDSU is 20-3-1 under Mike Regan when scoring the first goal of the match.
                Schneider had two shots on goal for the Bison, while Hanley had one. Aly Cole earned the victory in the net, as she improved to 3-0 with a save. Cole has yet to allow a goal in 270 minutes in the net this year. Omaha had a 7-3 advantage in shots.
 
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.
 
Last Time Against Denver
                A goal in the 70th minute gave Summit League Champion Denver a 1-0 victory over the North Dakota State soccer team in the season finale on Nov. 3, 2019.
                NDSU ends the season with an 8-7-3 record overall and 3-3-2 Summit League record. In the 25th season of NDSU soccer, the Bison finished with a winning record for the 18th time in school history. The Pioneers took an 11-4-3 overall and 7-0-1 record into the Summit League Championship as the top seed.
                In the 70th minute, Macee Barlow found Mary DeWalt for her first goal of the season. The Pioneers finished with a 15-2 advantage in shots, with both NDSU shots coming in the first half.
                Elyse Huber and Daniella Jasper had the two shots for NDSU. Huber finished the season with 79 shots, tied for the third most in school history. Monica Polgar recorded eight saves in the net, as she finished the season with 110. Her total was one shy of tying the school record.
 
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.