The week ahead:
Bison Soccer Hosts Fort Wayne Friday in Regular Season Finale at Dacotah Field
     The North Dakota State women's soccer team will host the Fort Wayne Mastodons in the final match of the regular season Friday, Nov. 1 at Dacotah Field beginning at 5 p.m. It will be the final home match for Bison seniors Katie Tallas, Steph Jacobson and Sheri Fitzsimmons. If the Bison win, they will move one step closer to clinching a spot in The Summit League postseason soccer tournament Nov. 8-10 in Fort Wayne, Ind.  
 
The Series against Fort Wayne
     Friday's Summit League match against the Mastodons will be the 10th meeting all-time. NDSU leads the series 5-3-1. Last season the Bison fell to the Mastodons in Fort Wayne, 1-0.
 
Against Summit League Opponents
     The Bison have an all-time record of 33-22-5 against Summit League opponents.
    
About the Fort Wayne Mastodons
     Fort Wayne enters the week at 6-9-1 overall and are 3-1-1 in Summit League play. The Mastodons are 4-5 at home and 2-4-1 on the road.
     Fort Wayne is paced offensively by Andie Lazzerini and Gaby Romo with three goals each. Sydney Hoareau has a team-high two assists.  
     The Mastodons primary goalkeeper is Sam Pavlika. She has a goal-against-average (GAA) of 1.58 and is the reigning Summit League Defensive Player of the Week. Pavlika has allowed 26 goals but has 86 saves and five shutouts in 245 shots-faced. She is 6-9-1 in goal.
     As a team Fort Wayne averages 0.69 goals-per-game while its opponents average 1.63 per-game. The Mastodons have a league-high 14 yellow cards.
 
Catching Up with the Bison
     North Dakota State went 0-1 last week, dropping a 2-1 decision to 14th-ranked Denver Sunday, Oct. 27 in Denver, 2-1. Anisha Kinnarath scored the lone goal for the Bison in the 36th-minute off a Lauren Miller assist. Kinnarath's goal was the first goal given up by Denver in Summit League play this season. The Pioneers outscored six league opponents by a combined 23-0 margin entering the match Sunday.
 
A Look at the Numbers
     Through 16 matches, NDSU is paced offensively by Kinnarath and Lauren Miller. Kinnarath and Miller each have a team-high seven goals. Miller leads the team in assists with five. 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. Kinnarath, Olivia Norman, Steph Jacobson and Jaclyn Scanlan each have an assist through 16 matches.
     In goal, Sierra Bonham has made 15 starts in 16 matches. She has 87 saves in 1295 minutes between the pipes and has allowed 24 goals for a goals-against average (GAA) of 1.67. Bonham has a record of 6-8-0 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.
 
NDSU in The Summit League Statistics
     The Bison are fourth in goals (19) and tied for fourth in assists (12) in The Summit League entering the week.  NDSU is sixth in shots, attempting 161. North Dakota State is second in the league in saves with an average of 6.12 per-match.
     Individually, Lauren Miller and Anisha Kinnarath are tied for third in the league in goals scored (7). Miller is third in assists with five and total points with 19. Both Kinnarath and Miller are tied for second in the league in game-winning goals with three each. Sierra Bonham leads the league in total saves (87) and saves-per-game (5.80). She is fourth in shutouts with four.
 
The Bison in the NCAA National Statistics
     Through 16 games, the Bison are ranked 36th in total saves with an average of 6.13 saves-per-game. Individually, Sierra Bonham is 34th in total saves-per-game (5.8) and 51st in total saves (87).
 
Senior Standouts
     Friday's match will be the final home match for NDSU soccer seniors Katie Tallas, Steph Jacobson and Sheri Fitzsimmons. They will be honored in a pregame ceremony.
 
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 (Alfred (N.Y.), 1993)
     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 15-19-0. 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
 
Margaret Saurin (Christian Brothers, 2003) - Fort Wayne Mastodons
     Entering her sixth season at the helm of the Mastodon women's soccer program, head coach Margaret Saurin has a career record of 29-71-5.
     A season ago she led the team to a second-place league finish in the regular season, falling in the Summit League Tournament Championship match after a 10-8-1 season, the most wins in program history.
     In the spring leading up to the 2007 season, Saurin became just the third head coach in IPFW women's soccer history.
     Before coming to IPFW, Saurin had been the assistant coach at Akron University for three seasons. She began her coaching career as an assistant at Christian Brothers University (Tennessee). Saurin has been part of the Ohio Northern Olympic development program and holds United States Soccer Federation "A" License.
 
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.