MOVING TO THE SUMMIT SERIES

July 10	Basketball (Women)
July 17	Basketball (Men)
July 24	Golf
July 31	Soccer
Aug. 7	Volleyball
Aug. 14	Tennis
Aug. 21	Track & Field/Cross Country
Aug. 28	Softball

The University of North Dakota will compete in The Summit League for all of its varsity sports (except hockey and football) beginning this season. The staff at FightingHawks.com will put together a sport-by-sport breakdown of what to expect, who the major players are, and some history and stats to know as UND makes the transition. This eight-part weekly series continues next week with the volleyball program.

A LITTLE HISTORY LESSON
On July 1, the University of North Dakota officially joined The Summit League for all of its varsity sports (except for football and hockey). The Summit League moved its offices from the Chicago suburbs to Sioux Falls, S.D., this summer and is in its 37th season, starting as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU) in 1982 before rebranding as the Mid-Continent Conference in 1989. In 2007, the conference changed its name to The Summit League. 

HOW MANY SCHOOLS IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE?
There are nine schools with full membership in The Summit League, including five that are former North Central Conference foes. North Dakota rejoins conference rivalries against North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State and Omaha, all of whom transitioned to Division I following the dissolving of the NCC. Denver, Western Illinois, Purdue Fort Wayne and Oral Roberts make up the other schools in the conference.

FAMILIAR PATH
UND will be traveling plenty up and down Interstate 29 in the coming years as members of The Summit League, affording the opportunity to renew classic North Central Conference rivalries with North Dakota State, Omaha, South Dakota and South Dakota State. On the other hand, the Fighting Hawks will meet three other Summit League programs for the first time ever in soccer: Denver, Oral Roberts and Purdue Fort Wayne.
 

Program	UND vs. Opponent	UND vs. Opponent (DI)
Denver	Never met	Never met
North Dakota State	5-7-1	2-5-1
Omaha	4-15-2	0-3-2
Oral Roberts	Never met	Never met
Purdue Fort Wayne	Never met	Never met
South Dakota	12-12-5	6-7-3
South Dakota State	3-7-1	1-5-1
Western Illinois	1-2-1	1-2-1

WHO HAVE BEEN THE RECENT WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONS?
Oral Roberts and former Summit League member Oakland dominated the conference's soccer landscape over the first 10 years but that balance of power has shifted in recent years. Either Denver or South Dakota State has won the last five conference tournaments, while DU, SDSU or Denver have had a hand in the regular-season crown during that same span.

Here's a look at the Summit League champions from the past 10 years, beginning with the 2008 season when UND began its transition to the Division I level:

Year     Regular Season Champion (Record)           Tournament Champions (Seed)
2008    Oakland/SDSU/IUPUI (7-1-0)                           South Dakota State (2)
2009    IUPUI/NDSU/SDSU (7-1-0)                              IUPUI (2)
2010    Oakland (8-0-1)                                                North Dakota State (2)
2011    South Dakota State (8-0-1)                               Oakland (4)
2012    Oakland (6-2-0)                                                Oakland (1)
2013    Denver (7-0-0)                                                  Denver (1)
2014    South Dakota State (5-2-1)                              South Dakota State (1)
2015    North Dakota State (7-0-1)                              South Dakota State (3)
2016    Denver/North Dakota State (5-2-1)                  South Dakota State (3)
2017    South Dakota State (7-0-0)                              Denver (2)

*Oakland is no longer a member of The Summit League

WHERE IS THE SUMMIT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT?
South Dakota State will host the 2018 women's soccer tournament in Brookings after North Dakota State did the honors in each of the previous two seasons. The top four regular-season seeds qualify for the conference tournament, which features two semifinal matchups and the championship match.  
The No. 1 seed has won the conference tournament just three times in the past 13 years.

ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIPS
Oakland* (8)
South Dakota State (4)
Denver (2)
Oral Roberts (2)
IUPUI* (1)
North Dakota State (1)
Valparaiso* (1)
* No longer a Summit League member
 
TRYING TO REACH THE SOCCER SUMMIT
North Dakota begins Summit League membership fresh off of its most successful Big Sky Conference season in program history. Under first-year head coach Chris Logan, the Fighting Hawks put together a 6-8-4 overall mark – a four-win improvement from the previous season – and a 4-5-1 conference record. UND was playing for a conference tournament berth during the final week of the regular season.

UND's improvements were reflected in the Big Sky postseason awards, including Logan becoming the first coach in program history to win Big Sky Coach of the Year honors. Additionally, Catherine Klein was named Big Sky Goalkeeper of the Year, forward Katie Moller joined Klein on the All-Big Sky First Team, and defender Emma Contino was an All-Big Sky Honorable Mention. All three of those players are back in 2018.

Klein, a native of Colorado Springs, Colo., started in all 10 of UND's conference games in 2017, going 4-4-1 with a 1.02 goals against average, .881 save percentage and five shutouts. She led the Big Sky in both saves (74) and saves per game (0.74) during league play. In 15 games overall, she led the league in save percentage (.890), saves (121) and saves per game (8.07).

Moller, a native of West Linn, Ore., scored six goals and 15 points in 10 Big Sky matches and led the conference in shots (57) and shots per game (5.70). She tied for second in the conference in goals, goals per game (0.60), points, points per game (1.50) and game-winning goals (3). In 18 games overall, Moller led the Big Sky in goals per game (0.56) and shots per game (4.67) while ranking second or third in points per game (1.28), goals (10), game-winning goals (4) and shots (84).

Contino, who hails from Colorado Springs, Colo., anchored a UND defensive unit that yielded just 10 goals in 10 conference matches, with shutouts in half of those games. In 18 games overall, the Fighting Hawks allowed just 16 goals to tie for the conference lead.

Also of note, North Dakota's 2018 roster features a pair of Summit League veterans in senior forward Brittany Mueller and sophomore forward Sarah Doran, both of whom are transfers from Summit League schools.

Mueller joined the Fighting Hawks in 2017 after spending her first two collegiate seasons at North Dakota State. She played in 18 games last season for UND after logging 17 appearances with the Bison in 2014 and 2015.

Doran comes to UND in 2018 after appearing in two games as a freshman at the University of Nebraska Omaha last season.