Zach Anderson

The women’s soccer team turned a 1-0 halftime lead over the UMKC into a 5-0 route with an onslaught of second-half goals on Oct. 23. Kourtney Frank’s first goal of the season with 13:56 left in the first half would turn out to be all the Jacks would need to secure the win, though.

Frank’s goal came off an assist from teammate Courtney Higgins.

“The first goal was huge,” head coach Lang Wedemeyer said. “We felt some pressure in the first half. Kourtney stepping up and making that goal really took the pressure off of us.”

Kaitlin Justice, Danni Healy and Higgins each scored a goal for SDSU, while Frank added her second goal of the game for the fifth and final goal.

Holding UMKC out of the net was goalkeeper Dani Pappas, who made three saves on the night.

“The biggest thing for us was to prove that we could score some goals,” Wedemeyer said. “We played good attack soccer tonight. It was great to put a few goals away.”

Oct. 25 would prove to be the second shutout of the weekend for the Jacks’ women’s soccer team, as they again used two second-half goals to earn a 3-0 win over Southern Utah. The Jacks led 1-0 at halftime after Higgins connected for the first goal of the game at the 25:54 mark on an assist from Healy.

After halftime, the Jacks pushed the lead to 3-0 with goals from Tory Schiltgen at 46:21 and Brittany Sipp at 69:08 on a Higgins assist.

Brie Rogers started in goal for the Jacks and made one save in the shutout.

The Jacks played hard throughout the second half even after they got a comfortable lead.

Up next for the Jackrabbits is a game against North Dakota State on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. at Fishback Soccer Park. The showdown with NDSU will determine the Summit League regular season champion.

Both SDSU and NDSU (NDSU 2, Southern Utah 0 on Oct. 23, NDSU 5, UMKC 1 on Oct. 25), swept their opponents on the weekend. SDSU is 9-6-2 (6-2 Summit League) and NDSU is 9-6-2 (6-1 Summit League). A win over NDSU would give SDSU at least a share of the Summit League regular season championship and the number one seed in the Summit League Tournament that starts Nov. 6. NDSU had an earlier game against Centenary postponed due to unplayable field conditions in Shreveport, La. They will play that game on Nov. 2 as a makeup game from Oct. 4. Centenary is 9-5-1 (1-4-1 Summit League).

“Regardless of what the stakes are, anytime you are going to play NDSU, it is going to be a big game,” Wedemeyer said.

#1.881300:2016673823.jpg:soc-16.1.jpg:Danni Healy (24) moves the ball ahead against SUU defender Kristen Fronk (3) during the game on Oct. 25. SDSU will host NDSU at 1 p.m. on Oct. 31.:Ethan Swanson