Five different players scored for South Dakota State’s women’s soccer team in the last two games as the Jacks played Grand Canyon and Green Bay as they make the turn for the Summit League season.
The 7-1 Jackrabbits will look toward Creighton as they play their final nonconference game Friday in Omaha.
The Blue Jays are fresh off their first win this season coming against Summit League and SDSU rival, North Dakota State. Creighton defeated NDSU 3-2 scoring all three goals unanswered Sunday afternoon in Fargo.
Two goals in the first 17 minutes by the Bison put them out to a 2-0 lead before senior Abigail Santana fired a shot past the NDSU keeper to cut the deficit to 2-1.
After a scoring drought of 42 minutes from both teams, Santana scored her second of the night to tie the game at 2-2. Grad student Hitomi Yamaue hit the game winning score in the 45-minute mark to put the Blue Jays in the win column.
Goalkeeper Keelan Terrell played the whole match, saving seven goals. Santana led the Jays kicking three balls toward the goal. Senior Hannah Luke had the only assist for Creighton.
The Jacks are also hot off a win scoring six goals unanswered taking down Grand Canyon and Green Bay Thursday and Sunday.
The Jackrabbits jumped on the offensive in the second half against the Phoenix Sunday scoring four of the five goals after the 45-minute mark to improve to 7-1 on the season. The Jacks lit up the scoreboard against the Phoenix all without their leading scorer Maya Hansen who played only 11 minutes against Grand Canyon.
After an early goal by Jadenn Carillo Sunday, Maleah Evans scored her second goal in as many games in the 63 minute to put the Rabbits up 2-0 running immediately to the sidelines to celebrate with Hansen. Following her up quickly was Kayla Anderson beating the Phoenix defense and putting the ball in net just 16 seconds later. “When your leader goes out, it’s hard. And I just wanted her to know, like, she’s an incredible person,” Evans said, “And she was coaching me on the sidelines. And so, I think that goal was probably more for Maya than it was for me.”
The Jacks then tacked on two more in the 77 and 88 minutes from Katelyn Beulke and Birna Bjornsdottir. Both of those goals marked the first score in their college careers.
Jocelyn Tanner played the full 90 minutes in net for the Yellow and Blue saving just two shots, showing the dominance from the Jackrabbit team in front of her which put 24 shots on Green Bay’s Mallorie Benhart. The Jacks also held the advantage 8-0 in corner kicks.
“Obviously, we scored one goal in the first half and four in the second.But for me, it’s not about the score.” Head Coach Brock Thompson during his weekly recap. “It’s about the performance. And I thought we performed really well, I thought the focus going into that game was, you know, creating quality chances.”
The Jacks improved their active win streak over Green Bay to eight, improving to 8-2 all time against the phoenix. This five-goal performance was the largest margin of victory in any contest between the two schools.
They now turn their attention to their regional rivals in Creighton, which Thompson said will be a fantastic game in Omaha Friday.
“Obviously … you having one game this weekend and one game next weekend, it does allow us to take some of the load off of the players, as we kind of … then prepare for conference season,” he said.
