UND sophomore Kristen Olson races toward the ball Friday afternoon at Bronson Field. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/The Dakota Student.

Going into Homecoming weekend, the UND women’s soccer took the field Friday evening at Bronson Field for a conference matchup against Northern Arizona.

The end result wasn’t what North Dakota wanted, as it was outshot 19-6 and lost 3-0 on its home field. The team fell short again Sunday, losing 3-1 to Southern Utah.

Even after a tough loss Friday, first-year assistant coach and former player Amanda Dahl said she did see some positive aspects to the way the team played on Friday.

“For the majority of the game, we looked pretty good, and I thought we did some really good things out there,” Dahl said. “We have just been struggling to put together a full 90 minutes of soccer.”

For UND, this season is about rebuilding. The soccer team currently has a roster consisting of 11 freshmen, and four sophomores. There are seven total juniors and seniors that make up the upperclassmen on this year’s squad.

Making the jump from high school to college isn’t always easy for a lot of players, especially with UND’s reliance on a young team.

“It takes some getting used to,” Dahl said. “A lot of players have been asked to come in this season to fill in some pretty big roles on the field, but I feel like a lot of them have really risen to the challenge.”

Even though UND currently holds a record of 1-10-1, it has been making strides to playing a more complete game.

“We have been doing better with playing a more technical game, and made some major improvement in that regard since the beginning of the season,” Dahl said.

Some of those contributions have come from rookie players on the team.

“Our two main center backs right now are freshman, and they have really stepped up in making strides to becoming better players at their positions,” Dahl said. “Sophomore Michelle Stingle has also been put into a big role as a midfielder and has really been impressive this season.”

UND still has a way to go before it starts molding together a strong winning season.

Big Sky play wraps up at the end of the month for the team as it will continue the development of its young players. With six conference games remaining for UND, it will look to steal a few wins and end the season on a high note.

With such a young team, the UND women’s soccer team is hopeful in making strides in improving its overall play and developing into a team that can play a disciplined 90 minutes of soccer.

“Consistency is the biggest struggle for us,” Dahl said. “If we can fix that part of our game and start to shoot the ball more, we could really start winning some games.”