UND women’s soccer had a big matchup against NDSU this last Thursday as playoff seating was on the line. A win or tie for UND would have confirmed their first postseason berth in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, this one did not end in UND’s favor. This would be a first for this soccer program in their Division 1 era. This season is the first time UND has had 10 wins since becoming a member of Division 1 soccer. Credits to Head Coach Chris Logan and his staff on a wonderful job coaching this team.

Coming off of a come-from-behind 5-2 road win against Omaha with a five-goal second half, UND was looking to start off hot against the Bison of NDSU.

Both sides played very even throughout the game, UND registering eight shots on goal and NDSU registering 12 shots on goal. The game plan for UND was to shut-down NDSU stand-out striker Elyse Huber who had 10 goals on the season coming into this game. They did just that.

“The whole back four were great, I was pleased with all of them,” Logan said.

UND’s defensemen seemed to feel comfortable carrying the ball up the side, and into the offensive zone.

“My back line is amazing, we did a really good job shutting Elyse down which was our game-plan going into it,” UND freshman goalkeeper Madi Livingston said.
UND’s Hannah Olson had three shots, one on goal as a defenseman, showing her confidence in carrying the ball up and generating offense.

Following a yellow card on UND’s Hannah Olson inside the penalty area, the Bison had a chance to shoot point blank from the penalty mark on UND GK Madi Livingston. Livingston was up to the challenge and made a nice diving save to keep the game at 0-0. “I wanted to keep the game 0-0, I honestly had no idea where she was going so it was just pretty lucky” said Livingston, who has been great in net for UND this year in her first season.

The offensive chances were most definitely there for UND, but they just could not capitalize. Sarah Doran had 4 shots (2 on goal), Olivia Knox had 4 shots (1 on goal), and Mara Yapello had 4 shots (3 on goal). Many chances coming from rushing the ball down the sideline and looking for chances to chip to the middle and get shots on net. This seemed to be the story of the game for UND, as NDSU goalkeeper shut every chance down.

The game needed extra time and NDSU’s striker Elyse Huber finished the job for the Bison as she fired a shot that deflected off of a UND player and into the net in the 66 th minute of the contest. Unfortunate ending for UND after a great defensive effort and shutting down Huber for the entire game.

UND is still ranked 3rd in the Summit League as their overall record is now 10-7-1 and 4-4-0 in conference play.

UND is now awaiting playoff seating to see if they will be eligible for their first NCAA tournament. If Denver beats NDSU, and Oral Roberts ties or loses to Fort Wayne these results would automatically punch the Fighting Hawk’s playoff ticket.