After winning seven of their first nine games, SDSU’s women’s soccer team secured two more victories this past week against two opponents from the state of North Dakota.
In their first match, the Jackrabbits played NDSU on Sept. 28 at the Fishback Soccer Complex.
When talking about the NDSU game, head coach Brock Thompson gave his thoughts on who was in control during the game.
“I thought the NDSU game on Thursday particularly was really played kind of the way they wanted to play it. A little bit more direct and a little bit more combative.”
Thompson thought there were times the team could settle into their style rather than NDSU’s. Although they were not playing their style, he felt they were still dominant.
A goal from senior forward, Jaden Carrillo in the first half would be the only score of the match. Carrillo scored this goal in the 17th minute of the match.
Carrillo’s goal came off a pass from junior midfielder, Avery LeBlanc which led to her first shot that was blocked by NDSU goalkeeper Abby Wilkinson. Carrillo then took possession of the ball again and put the ball into the back of the net for the goal.
For the rest of the first half of play, the Jackrabbits continued to put the pressure on the Bison forcing Bison goalkeeper Wilkinson to make five saves. The first half would end with score 1-0 in favor of the Jackrabbits.
In the 50th minute of the match NDSU put its first shot on goal which was followed by a strong effort the rest of the second half.
Jackrabbit goalkeeper, Jocelyn Tanner made three saves in the second half adding to a strong performance by the SDSU defense. The offense also had a strong performance finishing with a 17-8 advantage for shots and they finished with an 8-3 advantage for shots on goal.
Carrillo finished with a game-high six shots, five of those being on goal.
The Jackrabbits then faced the Fighting Hawks of UND in a match at Fishback Sunday, Oct. 1.
While handling the possession for the matchup, the Jackrabbits did not score until the 15th minute of the game. SDSU had the first four shots of the game three of which were saved by UND goalkeeper Madi Livingston
Kaycee Manding, a senior defender for the Jackrabbits took advantage of a penalty shot opportunity coming from a penalty in the box. Livingston blocked Mading’s initial shot, but she regained possession and kicked the ball into the net putting SDSU ahead 1-0.
Goalkeeper Jocelyn Tanner made two saves in the first half and the Jacks held a 13-3 advantage in shots during the first 45 minutes.
UND’s Amelia Loeffler tied the game up after shooting the ball past Tanner off an assist from teammate, Brynn Belcher.
When speaking on how the game went, coach Thompson was proud of how the reacted to the tying goal.
“I thought the response when we gave up the equalizing goal was really good. I thought not just the goal we scored but leading up to it, I thought we saw a little bit of the maturity in our team.”
No more than 10 minutes after the Fighting Hawks tied the game up, freshman forward, Katelyn Beulke passed the ball to junior midfielder, Laney Murdzek, who fired a shot into the top right corner of the goal. Murdzek’s goal put the Jackrabbits back in the lead in the 66th minute of the match.
Murdzek spoke on her goal and gave her description of how it played out. “KB passed me a really good ball and I dribbled it a little bit and shot it… and it went in the back of the net,” said Murdzek.
At the 71-minute mark of the game, a pass from senior midfielder, Katherine Jones found freshman midfielder, Taryn Hettich who took a shot that was saved by UND’s Livingston. Beulke was in position to receive the deflection and put the ball in the net putting the Jacks up 3-1 for the final score.
The Jacks improve to 10-2 on the season and 3-0 in Summit League play. They travel to Denver for their next match Thursday, Oct. 5.
