GAMES: The Fighting Sioux close out the regular season this Thursday with a Great West Conference match against New Jersey Institute of Technology at Bronson Field scheduled for 3 p.m.
NORTH DAKOTA: The University of North Dakota enters the game with a 4-8-3 record and are 1-3-1 in Great West Conference action. Junior Rhaya Ballon leads the team with eight goals and 18 points. The native of Rogers, Minn., has seven goals in her last nine games.
Senior Rachael Loomis (Fargo, N.D.) is second on the team in goals and is third all-time in program history in points (71), third all-time in goals (21) and has the most assists (19).
Freshmen Megan Anderson (Rapid City, S.D.) is averaging nearly one point per game in her first year and Kristi Hestdalen (Pierre, S.D.) has 87 saves on the year and backstopped the Sioux to three wins.
NJIT: Head coach Sergio Gonzalez is in his first season at the helm of the Highlanders. He previously spent five seasons as an assistant at Dayton. Dayton advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division I Tournament the previous two years.
Kylie Jones and Gechi Ukaegbu each are tied for the team lead with two goals on the year. Anna Kornmuller has started 13 games in net, making 66 saves with a 2.69 goals against average.
ALL-TIME SERIES: The Fighting Sioux and Highlanders have met once in the past, coming in the Great West Conference Tournament in 2009. UND advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 win over NJIT, who was hosting that year's tournament, and were the top-seeded team.
PREVIOUS ACTION (Saturday): UND was edged 2-1 in a rematch of last season's Great West Conference Tournament championship game at Sorrels Field against Houston Baptist.
"We put pressure on them all game especially in the last 15 minutes," head coach Kristen Gay said. "We just need to finish and we have one more regular season game to take care of that."
Houston Baptist got out to a quick start as the Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. Molly Missimer was able to send a floater over UND goalkeeper Kristi Hestdalen (Pierre, S.D.).
The Sioux answered as junior Rhaya Ballon (Rogers, Minn.) connected for an unassisted goal that went just under the crossbar at 27:48. She leads the team with eight goals and 18 points.
Taylor Gibson scored the eventual game-winner at 56:23 off a rebound shot by Natalie Hager into an open net.
The Sioux outshot the Huskies 14-13 in the game and were led by Ballon's four, while senior midfielder Veronika Zischka (Calgary, Alberta) had three and junior Noel Scherer (Fargo, N.D.) had two.
Huskies netminder Patty Wairath made six saves in the win while Hestdalen finished the game with three.
FUTURE SCHEDULE: The Fighting Sioux head to Newark, N.J., for the Great West Conference Tournament that opens on Friday. Winners advance to the semi-finals on Saturday with the championship game set for Monday. Game times and opponents are to be determined based on conclusion of GWC regular-season action.
