The week ahead:

NDSU Soccer Travels to Brookings for Saturday Showdown with South Dakota State
     Fresh off a pair of weekend overtime victories against Omaha and South Dakota, the North Dakota State women's soccer team will take to the road for a Summit League match against South Dakota State Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. in Brookings.
 
The Series against South Dakota State
     Saturday's match in Brookings will be the 16th meeting all-time in the series. NDSU leads the series 7-6-2. Last season the Bison defeated the Jackrabbits 2-1 in overtime at home.   
 
Against Summit League Opponents
     The Bison have an all-time record of 33-20-5 against Summit League opponents.
    
About the South Dakota State Jackrabbits
     The Jackrabbits enter the week at 9-3-2 overall and are in first place in The Summit League with a record of 4-0. SDSU is 4-3-1 at home, 4-0 on the road and 1-0-1 at neutral locations.
     The Jacks are paced offensively by Alyssa Brazil with a team-high five goals and 12 points. Diana Potterveld is second in goals scored for SDSU with three. SDSU has scored 20 goals through 14 matches, third-most in The Summit League. South Dakota State leads the league in corner kicks taken with 98 and is second in goals-against average (GAA) with a 0.55 avg. The Jacks have also only allowed eight goals through 14 matches, second-lowest in the league.
     SDSU averages 1.43 goals-per-game while holding its opponents to just 0.57 per-game.
 
Catching Up with the Bison
    NDSU soccer posted two overtime wins at home last week, improving to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in Summit League play. The Bison defeated Omaha Friday, Oct. 11 in overtime 2-1 before downing South Dakota Sunday, Oct. 13 in overtime 1-0. 
     Midfielder Lauren Miller scored both game-winning goals in overtime for the Bison.
     Against Omaha Friday, she scored the opening goal of the match in the 14th-minute before the Mavs equalized on an own goal in the 39th-minute. The match remained tied until the 98th-minute when Anisha Kinnarath fed a pass to Miller, who surgically slotted the ball to the lower right corner of the net for the game-winner.
     In the match with South Dakota Sunday, neither team could find the back of the net the first 90-minutes of action, sending the match into a 10-minute, sudden-death, overtime period. Just three-minutes into the period, Miller gave the Bison a 1-0 OT triumph when she controlled a pass from Amy Yang and netted a tough shot from 10-yards out.
     Miller now has a team-high seven goals and is tied for second in The Summit League in goals scored.
 
A Look at the Numbers
     Through 14 matches, NDSU is paced offensively by Kinnarath and Lauren Miller. Miller has team-highs in goals scored (7), assists (4) and points (18). Anisha Kinnarath is second in goals scored for the Bison with six and has one assist. Katie Tallas has two goals and an assist while Tristyn Walczak, Meghan Johnston and Mikayla Jacobson each have one goal. Amy Yang has two assists. Olivia Norman, Steph Jacobson and Jaclyn Scanlan each have an assist through 12 matches.
     In goal, Sierra Bonham has made 13 starts in 14 matches. She has 76 saves in 1115 minutes between the pipes and has allowed 21 goals for a goals-against average (GAA) of 1.69. Bonham has a record of 6-6-0 with four shutouts. Fellow NDSU goalkeeper Katie McCormick has seen action in three matches, making one start. She has nine saves in 168 minutes in goal and has given up four goals for a GAA of 2.14. McCormick's overall record is 1-1-0.
 
Miller Tabbed Summit League Offensive Player of the Week for Second Time this Season
     NDSU soccer freshman midfielder Lauren Miller was named The Summit League Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after scoring three goals last week with two being overtime game-winners.
     In the Bison's 2-1 win over Omaha Oct. 11, she netted a ball from 10-yards out in the 98th-minute after scoring the opening goal of the match for NDSU in the 14th-minute.
     Against South Dakota Oct. 13, Miller broke a scoreless tie in the third minute of the first overtime period, slipping a shot past the South Dakota goalkeeper to seal the victory.   
     For the week, she registered six points on three goals with two game-winners. Miller now has a team-high seven goals for the Bison this season.
 
NDSU in The Summit League Statistics
     The Bison are fourth in both goals (18) and tied for third in assists (11) in The Summit League entering the week.  NDSU is sixth in shots, attempting 150. North Dakota State leads the league in saves with an average of 6.21 per-match.
     Individually, Lauren Miller is tied for second in the league in goals scored (7) and assists (4). She is second in total points with 18. Anisha Kinnarath is tied for fourth in total goals with six. Both Kinnarath and Miller are tied atop the league in game-winning goals with three each. Sierra Bonham leads the league in total saves (76) and saves-per-game (5.85). She is third in shutouts with four.
 
Bonham among NCAA Goalkeeping Leaders
     Sierra Bonham ranks 28th in NCAA Division I in total saves with 76. She is 39th in saves-per-game with an average of 5.86.

Home Sweet Home
     The Bison have compiled an overall record of 97-26-5 in Fargo since the program began in 1995. NDSU went unbeaten at home in 1996 (8-0), 2005 (7-0) and 2011 (7-0-1). This season marks the Bison's first season playing on historic Dacotah Field. NDSU has compiled an impressive 5-2 record at home so far this season.
 
Following the Herd
     For the latest information on NDSU Bison soccer visit www.GoBison.com. All home Bison soccer matches have live statistics provided by Stat Broadcast. Please check the soccer schedule page for live stat links. In addition to live statistics, live video is available online on a pay-per-view basis at www.GoBison.com/showcase for every NDSU home match.
 
Head Coach Mark Cook
     Mark Cook is in his second season as the head coach of the North Dakota State University Bison women's soccer team and has a career record of 15-17-0. Cook led the Bison to an 8-10-0 overall record and a third place finish in The Summit League with a record of 5-3-0 in his inaugural season as the bench boss last year. He also led the Bison to their fourth straight bid to the conference postseason tournament with the third place finish in 2012.
     Cook came to NDSU after serving as the Director of Coaching at the Minnesota Thunder Academy for 11 years, where he transformed a program with just four teams to one of the premier soccer club programs in the Twin Cities with 65 teams as of 2012. Under his leadership, Minnesota Thunder Academy placed almost 85 percent of all club graduates in collegiate soccer programs.
     He graduated from Alfred (N.Y.) University in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in communications.
 
The Opposing Coach
Lang Wedemeyer - South Dakota State
     Lang Wedemeyer is in his 14th season as the head coach of the Jackrabbit soccer program. He has a career record of 118-97-28 in 14 seasons as a head coach.
     Wedemeyer joined the SDSU staff in 2000 as the first coach in women's soccer history. Before taking his current post, Wedemeyer was the director of coaching and women's coordinator for the Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club. His three-year tenure as the club's assistant executive director included overseeing all 28 teams and their coaches.
     One of the youngest coaches in the United States to obtain all levels of coaching certification, Wedemeyer holds nine professional soccer coaching licenses, including a United State Soccer Federation "A" license and the NSCAA Premier diploma.
     While working on his master's degree at Old Dominion, Wedemeyer served as an assistant coach for the men's soccer program. He graduated from Old Dominion in 1994. 

Up Next
    The Bison travel to Denver, Colo. to battle the 16th-ranked Denver University Pioneers in a Summit League match Sunday, Oct. 27. First kick is set for 1 p.m. CT. 

The Summit League
     In its fourth decade of Division I athletics, The Summit League offers 19 championship sports and has a combined enrollment of over 120,000 at eight institutions, including three located in top 60 U.S. metro populations and two land-grant universities. Member institutions include: Denver (University of Denver), Fort Wayne (Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne), IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis), North Dakota State University, Omaha (University of Nebraska Omaha), the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University and Western Illinois University. Previously known as the Mid-Continent Conference, The Summit League rebranded in 2007 and has since produced eight NCAA Champions, 62 All-Americans and 50 Academic All-America selections.