VERMILLION, S.D.  – The University of North Dakota soccer team fell, 1-0, to South Dakota on Sunday afternoon in Vermillion to bring an end to the 2018 season.
 
UND finishes with a record of 9-6-2, including a 3-4-1 mark in Summit League play. The Fighting Hawks tallied 10 points in conference play, but will just miss the conference tournament by three points following a win by Omaha earlier today. The nine wins by UND are the most in the Division I era (2008-present) and the most in a single season since 2006.
 
The program will also say goodbye to 12 seniors as they will graduate as the winningest class during the DI era and have etched their names across the record book in countless categories.
 
Olivia Swenson, one of those graduating seniors, finished her career with another strong performance in the cage for the Hawks, turning aside seven shots. UND finishes the year with a +31 goal differential, the second straight year under Head Coach Chris Logan that they have finished on the plus side and the highest mark since +43 in 2003.
 
South Dakota (9-7-2, 4-4 Summit) finished with a 16-6 shot advantage, including an 8-5 mark with shots on target. The Coyotes also earned 10 corner kicks in the contest while UND was unable to earn a corner.
 
Despite being outshot for the match, it was UND who generated the first few chances. Moller collected the game's first pair of shots on target, testing the USD goalkeeper in the fourth and 11th minutes, but both shots were turned away as the tilt remained scoreless.
 
South Dakota started to take possession following the shots on goal by Moller, registering three consecutive tries on the net but were stopped by Swenson before a fourth try was blocked by the UND defense.
 
In the 31st minute, USD broke the scoreless deadlock when Dani Brown sent a ball just outside the 18-yard box for Tiannah Moore who turned and fired into the top corner for her fifth strike of the season and a 1-0 lead.
 
The Coyotes had two final looks to end the first half, but Swenson made another save and the UND backline thwarted a corner attempt to head into the locker room trailing by one.
 
 The second half didn't seem to slow down the momentum for USD, earning four corner kicks and firing a pair of shots in the opening 10 minutes of the frame. Swenson made a stop before the North Dakota defense held strong again by only allowing a single header attempt on those four corners.
 
The Coyotes held possession for a majority of the second half as well, but in the 79th minute UND nearly leveled the contest on a great look from Moller. The senior recorded her third shot on goal, but was stopped again as USD held its 1-0 lead.
 
Moments later, Brittany Mueller put another shot on target, but Parker Rytz was there again before Kennedy Kidd had her shot blocked as the Hawks tried to crank up the offensive pressure with time running out.
 
USD was able to control the ball for the final five minutes on the clock and hold on for the 1-0 victory. With the loss coupled with the Omaha victory over Western Illinois, the Mavericks head to Brookings, S.D. as the fourth-and-final team to qualify for the Summit League Tournament.