This Week in NDSU Soccer: NDSU Travels to Air Force, Northern Colorado for First Road Matches of 2014 After picking up a pair of wins at home to begin the 2014 regular season, the North Dakota State women's soccer team will travel to the United States Air Force Academy and Northern Colorado for its first road tests of the season.
The Bison will face the Air Force Falcons Friday, Aug. 29, at 4:30 p.m. MT (5:30 p.m. CT) in Colorado Springs before facing the Northern Colorado Bears in Greeley on Sunday, Aug. 31, at noon MT (1 p.m. CT).
The Series against Air Force Friday's match against the Falcons will mark just the second meeting in the all-time series. The Bison trail Air Force in the series, 0-1-0, after the Falcons claimed a 5-1 win over NDSU back in 2007 at the Air Force Invitational.
The Series against Northern Colorado Sunday's contest at Northern Colorado will mark the 12th meeting in the all-time series. NDSU trails the Bears in the series, 4-7-0. The last time the two programs met was in 2007, with the Bison claiming a 2-0 win over the Bears in the Air Force Invitational.
About Air Force- Air Force enters Friday's match with an overall record of 0-1-0 after dropping its regular season opener against Montana, 1-0, Friday, Aug. 22, at home.
- The Falcons, a member of the Mountain West Conference, completed the 2013 season with an overall record of 3-13-2 and a conference mark of 2-7-1, tying for ninth place in the Mountain West.
- Air Force returns seven starters and 14 letterwinners from last season's team, including leading goal-scorer Ally Swift, who had three goals for six points in 2013. Ashley Grecco, who dished out a team-high four assists, also returns for the Falcons this season.
- As a team last season, Air Force averaged 0.72 goals per game while allowing 1.56 per game from its opponents. The Falcons compiled a SOG percentage of .484, aiming 78 of 161 shots on goal.
About Northern Colorado- Northern Colorado enters the week with an overall record of 1-1 after defeating Colorado College at home in its season-opener, 3-2, Friday, Aug. 22, before falling at Colorado Sunday, Aug. 24, 1-0. The Bears will play at Colorado State on Thursday, Aug. 28, before welcoming the Bison to Greeley on Sunday.
- Through two matches in 2014, Kassy Castillo leads Northern Colorado in goals with two while Brooke Barden has one. Castillo also has one assist through two matches for Northern Colorado.
- The Bears, a member of the Big Sky Conference, finished the 2013 season with an overall record of 9-6-5 and in fourth place in the Big Sky with a conference record of 5-2-2.
- Northern Colorado returns 2013 leading scorer Essence Ortiz-Lanier, who netted five goals for 10 points, along with Ambree Bellin and Rebecca Lancia, who each recorded a team-high five assists last season.
- As a team last season, Northern Colorado averaged 1.25 goals per game while limiting its opponents to 1.15 per game. The Bears compiled a SOG percentage of .481, putting 114 of 237 shots on target.
Catching Up with the Bison- The Bison enter the week with an overall record of 2-0-0 after defeating North Dakota Friday, Aug. 22, in their regular season opener, 1-0, and Presentation College Sunday, Aug. 24, 8-0.
- Through NDSU's opening pair of matches, Lizzie Lukas and Lauren Miller lead the Bison in scoring with three goals each. Amy Yang leads NDSU in assists with three.
- Miller scored the game-winning-goal for NDSU Friday against North Dakota, sending a pass from Anisha Kinnarath rolling into the back of the net in the 62nd-minute. She added a brace with two goals Sunday against Presentation College.
- Lukas netted a hat trick against Presentation College Sunday, scoring three goals (career-high). She netted goals in the sixth, 23rd and 52nd minutes, helping the Bison roll to an 8-0 victory.
- Tiana Khamvongsa and Sam Verbeke scored the first goals of their respective collegiate careers Sunday against Presentation College. Khamvongsa netted a goal in the 54th-minute before Verbeke opened her scoring account in the 80th-minute.
- Yang compiled a career-high three assists against Presentation College Sunday.
- The eight goals scored by the Bison against Presentation College was the most goals by an NDSU women's soccer team since the 2010 season when NDSU defeated Centenary, 9-0.
Looking Back at 2013- North Dakota State completed the 2013 season with an overall record of 9-10 and a Summit League mark of 4-3.
- The Bison advanced to the championship match of The Summit League tournament before falling to 14th ranked Denver, 5-1.
- NDSU's Lauren Miller and Anisha Kinnarath were selected to the All-Summit League first team with Miller being named the league's Freshman of the Year. Sierra Bonham and Steph Jacobson garnered second team all-league honors while Amy Yang and Miller were named to the league's freshmen team.
- Miller led the team in goals (10), assists (7), points (27) and shots (53) while Kinnarath was second on the team in goals (9), assists (3), points (21) and shots (49).
- Bonham posted a record of 8-9 in goal for NDSU with a goals-against average of 1.78. She made 102 saves and posted four shutouts between the pipes.
- The Bison averaged 1.32 goals per game and scored 25 goals in 190 shot attempts.
Lukas Tabbed Summit League Offensive Co-Player of the Week North Dakota State University junior forward
Lizzie Lukas was named The Summit League Offensive Co-Player of the Week on Monday, Aug. 25, for her performance on the soccer pitch Aug. 22-24.
Lukas earns her first career Offensive Player of the Week award after recording a hat trick in an 8-0 win over Presentation College on Sunday. The South St. Paul, Minn., native scored goals in the sixth, 23rd and 52nd minutes of the match. All four of her shots taken on the week were on frame for a perfect 1.000 shot on goal percentage. Lukas also helped the Bison to a 1-0 win over in-state rival North Dakota to open the 2014 campaign on Friday.
She shared the award with South Dakota's Rebecca Sparkman, who netted a hat trick against the College of St. Mary Aug. 24.
Previewing 2014- NDSU returns nine starters from last season's Summit League tournament runner-up team, including four All-Summit League performers in Lauren Miller, Anisha Kinnarath, Sierra Bonham and Amy Yang.
- The Bison were picked third out of nine teams in The Summit League's preseason poll released Wednesday, Aug. 13.
- North Dakota State welcomes seven new student-athletes this season in freshmen Jenna Zaeske, Cydney Coffey, Anna Reinholz, Brittany Mueller, Mia Johansson and Sam Verbeke along with junior transfer Audrey Mascal.
- The Bison return 88 percent of their goal scoring from last season.
- Entering 2014, NDSU goalkeeper Sierra Bonham is ranked third in program history in career saves with 209 and saves per game with an average of 5.97.
- After just one season, NDSU forward Lauren Miller is already ranked third in NDSU history in career points per game with an average of 1.42 and goals per game with a 0.53 average.
Head Coach Mark Cook Mark Cook is entering his third season at the helm of the North Dakota State soccer program after being named head coach on Jan. 25, 2012. He is the fourth head coach in the 17-year history of the program.
Last season, Cook led NDSU to an overall record of 9-10 and a third place finish in The Summit League with a record of 4-3. The Bison advanced to The Summit League tournament championship match with a 2-1 upset win over South Dakota State before falling to Denver to finish runner-up in the event. It was NDSU's fifth straight appearance in the league tournament.
Cook came to NDSU after serving as the Director of Coaching at the Minnesota Thunder Academy for 11 years, where he grew a four-team program into one of the premier club programs in the Twin Cities with 65 teams in 2012.
He graduated from Alfred (N.Y.) University in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in communications. He was the starting goalkeeper at Alfred for two years.
The Opposing CoachesLarry Friend - Air Force Larry Friend enters his sixth season as head coach of the United States Air Force Academy women's soccer program. He is the second head coach to lead the Falcons in their 22-year history. He has a career record of 25-56-11 in five years at Air Force.
Friend was an assistant at Air Force from 1992-1996 and 2002-2008. He started the women's soccer program with former head coach Marty Buckley while on active duty in 1992.
He was a four-year starter and team captain at Air Force under head coach Luis Sagastume from 1981-84.
Friend graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Air Force Academy in 1985 and earned his master's degree from Northern Colorado in 1994.
Tim Barrera - Northern Colorado Tim Barrera enters 2014 with a 192-166-30 record in his 21-year head-coaching career, and a 132-122-27 record in Greeley. He has more than doubled the previous Northern Colorado record for wins by a soccer head coach and now has more wins than the rest of the UNC soccer coaches combined.
In his 16th season leading the Bears, he is the longest-tenured head coach at Northern Colorado.
Before joining the Northern Colorado staff, Barrera served as head coach at Elmira College in Elmira, N.Y.
Prior to arriving at Elmira, Barrera spent one year (1993) as head women's coach at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., one year as director of player development at the Northeast Attack Soccer Club (in Wilkes-Barre) and one year as a student assistant coach at Virginia Tech.
Barrera earned his bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech in 1986 and his master's degree from Elmira College in 1998. While at Virginia Tech, he was a four-year starter (1981-84) and graduated as the program's all-time leading scorer with 19 goals.
