After a strong southeast wind accompanied UND’s 3-0 loss to Montana State on Friday afternoon, the Green and White rallied back.

Sunday in Bronson Field, the team defeated Eastern Washington 3-1 for its first Big Sky Conference win of the season.

In his first year as head coach of the team, Matt Kellogg is satisfied with UND’s efforts.

“It’s a tremendous weight to get off our shoulders,” Kellogg said. “All the hard work the girls have put into this season has finally paid off. I’m so happy for them to get the win that they much, much deserved.”

Junior goalkeeper Kristi Hestdalen contributed to the team’s victory — posting a career-high 14 saves and limiting the Eagles to just one goal.

Another leading force on the field was freshman Zoe Foster. She scored North Dakota’s first goal of the game and turned a 1-0 deficit into a 1-1 tie while taking five of the team’s seven shots on goal during the game.

Just 15 minutes into the second half, North Dakota came on the board with its second goal of the game by Kirsten Olson, followed by Andrea Hyduke’s shot in the net for a 3-1 victory over the Eagles.

Montana battle

Friday’s game featured different results.

The Grizzlies’ attack came out strong, putting up 13 shots the first half — one by midfielder Mackenzie Akins was able to find the back of the ne.

The Green and White attempted to stay with the Grizzlies in the second half, but Montana senior Maddey Frey scored a pair of second-half goals late in the game.

Hyduke led the team with two shot attempts in the contest, while senior midfielder Noel Scherer recorded the lone shot on goal for UND. The Green and White were not able to break through and fell to the Grizzlies, 3-0.

Montana attempted a total of 29 shots in the contest — a season-high for the Grizzlies — compared to just seven by North Dakota. Hestdalen made a total of six saves off of nine shots on goal, while Montana’s keeper Kailey Norman only made one save in the game for the shutout.

Kellogg said he thinks the age of his team is what might hurt its chances of winning.

“I think Montana was able to come in and push us around, and that’s to be expected when you have a young team like we have where we’re playing a lot of freshmen in a lot of minutes, and a lot of redshirt freshman as well,” Kellogg said. “We’re still growing into ourselves as a team and being able to play at this level with the physicality of it.”

Sophomore defender Abbey Welle is confident her team will keep fighting.

“Our team’s strength so far this year is our work ethic,” she said.

UND will travel to Cedar City, Utah to face Southern Utah on Friday at 4 p.m.

Dakota Student sports editor Elizabeth Erickson contributed to this report.

Allison Moore is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]