GAMES: The Sioux head to Houston this weekend for the Great West Conference Tournament where they will play their first game Friday at 2 p.m. against the Howard University Bison.
BISON: Friday's matchup will be the first ever between these two teams. The Sioux are coming off their second victory in a row after defeating Houston Baptist 3-1 two weeks ago and South Dakota 5-2 this past weekend. UND's offense has come on strong scoring ten goals in their past four games. Senior forward Alex Zarling and junior forward Rachael Loomis have been pivotal in the Sioux's success as Zarling as three goals over the past four games whil Loomis has two goals and two assists. Freshman forward Amanda Dahl has taken advantage of the minutes she has seen by scoring two goals in the past two games over 27 minutes. The Bison will rely heavily on sophomore midfielder Retha Koefoed who is leading the team with six goals this season along with sophomoe forward Jordan Brown who leads the team with four assists, she also has two scores. The Sioux will need to take advantage of Howard's junior keeper Cheyra Bell who has the second lowest save percentage and fourth highest goals against average in the conference.
CONF. TOURNEY: UND placed second in the West Division of the GWC which has put them in the upper part of the bracket with South Dakota , Howard, and South Carolina State. If the Sioux advance past Howard on Friday they will either face South Dakota or South Carolina State. UND has never faced South Carolina State, who are 12-5-1 and undefeated in conference play. The better draw for the Sioux would be South Dakota, if they defeat SCSU, as UND has swept the Coyotes this season over two games despite the fact the Sioux had lost four straight games to USD prior to this season.
PREVIOUS ACTION: The Fighting Sioux soccer team put on a show Friday evening, opposite South Dakota (4-11-2, 1-5-0 GWC), scoring three unanswered goals in the second half on their way to a 5-2 victory. The Coyotes scored first as freshman forward Afton Keiser scored twenty minutes into the game; an assist was accredited to junior midfielder Erin Bello. UND fired back five minutes later as sophomore defender Sheri Stapf (Lakeville, Minn.) found the back of the net. Her goal was unassisted. South Dakota quickly took back the lead 37 seconds later as Coyote freshman forward Jenny Teslow score her team-leading eighth goal of the season. Teslow was unassisted on the goal. Junior forward Rachael Loomis (Fargo, N.D.) tied the game back up with five minutes left to play in the first half at two goals apiece. Sophomore defender Rhaya Ballon (Rogers, Minn.) was accredited with the assist for the goal. In the second half freshman midfielder Courtney Beckwith (Henderson, Nev.) broke the game wide open on an assist from junior defender Veronika Zischka (Calgary, Alberta). Senior forward Alex Zarling (Fargo, N.D.) added another goal off a feed from Ballon. The goal was Zarling's team leading fourth goal of the season. Freshman forward Amanda Dahl (Redmon, Wash.) scored an unassisted goal with a little over three minutes to play in the game giving the Sioux a three goal lead. Head coach Kristen Gay was impressed with her team's play and felt her team has a lot of steam heading into the conference tournament. "This was a total team effort today. We gave up some early goals in the first half and came out flying in the second. We were also able to play Alex Ciaccio in the second half to get her some live action. I'm really proud of our team and the way we finished heading into the conference tournament." Dahl has broken out in the past two games scoring twice in only 27 minutes of play and today's goal occurred in the only five minutes she was on the field. Freshman keeper Alex Ciaccio (Minnetonka, Minn.) got her first minutes of the year playing the entire second half and finishing with three saves and zero goals scored against her. Stapf led the Sioux with five shots on goal and one score, while Ballon led the Sioux with two assists. Senior keeper Monica Stierman finished with three saves in the game giving her 104 saves on the year and putting her second for most saves in a season.
FUTURE SCHEDULE: The Sioux take on the Howard University Bison at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5. If they advance their next game would be opposite either South Carolina State or South Dakota at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 6.
