After splitting their opening two matches last weekend in Minneapolis, the North Dakota State Bison soccer team will trek east to New York for a pair of matches against Hofstra and St. John's. NDSU will face Hofstra Friday, Aug. 30 at 4 p.m. CST before battling St. John's Sunday, Sept. 1 beginning at 6 p.m. CST. The match at St. John's Sunday will be aired live on ESPN3.

The Series against Hofstra

The match Friday against Hofstra will mark the first-ever meeting between the Bison and the Pride.

The Series against St. John's

Like the match against Hofstra, the Bison's tilt with St. John's Sunday will be the first-ever match pitting NDSU against the Red Storm.

About the Hofstra Pride

Hofstra, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, enters the week at 0-2-0 overall. The Pride lost to Syracuse Aug. 23, 3-2, before dropping a contest against No. 4 Penn State Aug. 25, 2-1 in the Penn State Invitational.

The Pride's leading scorer through their first two matches is Sam Scolarici, who has two goals. Scolaroci was the team's second-leading scorer last season with 10 goals. Hofstra used two goalkeepers in its first two matches. Emily Morphitis was between the pipes in the opener against Syracuse, allowing three goals with four saves. Friederike Mehring was in-goal for the match against Penn State, giving up a pair of goals with one save.

As a team the Pride, through two matches, are averaging 1.5 goals/match while giving up 2.5/match.

About the St. John's Red Storm

St. John's, a member of the Big East Conference, enters the week at 2-0-0 overall. The Red Storm defeated Delaware 2-1 in their season opener Aug. 23 before handing Fordham a 5-0 loss Aug. 25.

St. John's leading scorer through two matches is Rachel Daly, who has tallied three goals and has two assists. Diana Poulin has started both matches in-goal for the Red Storm, allowing one goal with four saves and one shutout.

As a team the Red Storm, through two matches, are averaging 3.5 goals/match while holding their opponents to just 0.5/match.

Catching Up with the Bison

The Bison kicked off their 2013 regular season with a 2-0 shutout victory over the Belmont (Tenn.) Bruins Aug. 23 before falling to the Minnesota Golden Gophers 4-1 Aug. 25. Anisha Kinnarath tallied the game-winner in the match against Belmont and had the lone goal in the match at Minnesota Sunday. Katie Tallas scored the opening goal in the victory against Belmont. Freshman Lauren Miller provided assists on all three goals for the Bison last weekend. The Bison enter this week at 1-1-0 overall

Sierra Bonham had a career week in-goal for the Bison. She picked up the win between the pipes against the Bruins, making eight saves, going the full 90 minutes. Bonham suffered the loss Sunday against Minnesota but set a new career-best for saves in a match, stopping 13 Gopher shots. She also went all 90 minutes in-goal Sunday.

NDSU tabbed Fourth in Preseason Summit League Poll

North Dakota State was picked to finish fourth for the second year in a row in The Summit League preseason coaches poll. League newcomer Denver was the preseason pick to win the league. Fort Wayne was tabbed second while Western Illinois was third and the Bison fourth. South Dakota State finished just two points behind NDSU to come in fifth while Nebraska-Omaha was sixth. IUPUI and South Dakota rounded out the poll tied for seventh.

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 9-11-0. Cook led the Bison to an 9-10-0 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 Coaches

Simon Riddiough - Hofstra University Pride

The Hofstra Pride are led by eighth season head coach Simon Riddiough. Since becoming the head coach, Riddiough has not had a losing season and has guided the Pride to two Colonial Athletic Association championships. He has a career record of 88-46-10 in seven seasons at Hofstra.

Ian Stone - St. John's University Red Storm

St. John's University is led by 19th season head coach Ian Stone. He is the winningest coach in St. John's soccer program history, amassing a career record of 164-141-37. Stone has led the Red Storm to 13 postseason tournament appearances, a 2009 NCAA Tournament berth, 1994 Big East Championship among numerous other achievements. Stone graduated from the West London Institute of Education with a bachelor's degree in physical education and English. He is pursuing his master's degree in school counseling at St. John's.