Scene Setter
    The North Dakota State Bison women's soccer team (0-0 overall, 0-0 Summit) opens the 2019 season this weekend with a pair of matches against Saint Mary's (0-0, 0-0 West Coast) and Montana (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky). The Bison are 5-5 in the last 10 season openers, including a 4-1 victory at Green Bay last season.

25th Season of NDSU Soccer
The 2019 season marks the 25th season of soccer at NDSU. The Bison own a 240-177-28 (.539) all-time record, including a 126-42-6 (.724) mark in home matches. In six seasons at Dacotah Field, the Bison are 30-16-1 (.638). Pete Cuadrado is the all-time leader in wins with 93 in nine seasons as head coach from 2003-11. The Bison have had a winning record in 17 of the 24 seasons played.

The Series with Saint Mary's
    Friday night's match will mark the first meeting between the two schools.

The Series with Montana
    North Dakota State owns a 3-1 lead in the all-time series between the two schools that dates back to a 3-0 Bison win in Fargo in 2005. The Grizzlies earned a 3-0 win in Missoula, Mont. in 2006. The last two matches took place in 2011, with the Bison pitching a pair of 4-0 and 3-0 shutouts.

Rewinding to 2018

• NDSU posted an overall record of 9-7-0, while finishing third in the Summit League standings with a 6-2 league slate.
• The Bison made the Summit League Tournament for the 10th-straight year, the longest active streak in the league.
• Three Bison were named All-Summit League. Mariah Haberle, Hanna Norman and Roxy Roemer all picked up first team honors from the league.
• Holly Enderle and Mallory Fenske were named to The Summit League Women's Soccer Championship All-Tournament Team.
• Enderle and Roemer were voted to The Summit League Academic All-League Team. 

Haberle Named to Summit League "Players to Watch" List
    Bison senior Mariah Haberle was named to the "Players to Watch" section by the league coaches. Haberle, an All-Summit League First Team selection last season, started all 16 matches with seven goals and two assists on the season. Haberle had four game-winning goals for NDSU last year.

NDSU Soccer Picked Third in Summit League Preseason Poll 
    The North Dakota State women's soccer team was picked to finish third in the 2019 Summit League Women's Soccer Preseason Poll, announced Monday, Aug. 12 by the league office.
After finishing third in the 2018 standings, the Bison received 41 points and are picked to finish in the same spot. With 63 and 57 points respectively, 2018 Summit League co-champions Denver and South Dakota State are picked for the top two spots in 2019. Denver received seven first place votes, while the Jackrabbits received the other two.
The top four regular-season finishers will qualify for The Summit League Women's Soccer Championship, which will be hosted by reigning regular-season co-champion SDSU in Brookings, S.D., Nov. 7 and 9.

North Dakota State Notes

• The Bison return six starters and 13 letterwinners from last season's team, including first team all-league selection Mariah Haberle. 
• NDSU opened the exhibition season with a 3-0 victory over Viterbo (NAIA) on Aug. 14. The Bison scored all three goals in the second half.
• In the final exhibition match of the season, defending Big Ten Tournament Champion Minnesota beat the Bison 3-0 in St. Paul. 
• The Bison return six starters from last season in Haberle, Sydney Johnson, Laura Powell, Dani Algera, Maddie Burnstein and Monica Polgar.
• NDSU has 10 newcomers entering 2019, including nine freshman and one senior transfer. The freshmen are Paige Goaley (F), Grace Sjoberg (D/MF), Eden Taylor-Wineera (MF), Taylore Simmons (MF/F), McKenna Strand (D), Kate Swanis (MF), Lavin Douglass (MF), Regan Ostler (MF) and Paris Walsh (D). Elyse Huber (F) is a senior transfer from Nebraska. 

 
About Saint Mary's

• The Gaels went 7-10-2 last season, finishing eighth in the West Coast Conference with a 2-6-1 league mark.
• Saint Mary's was picked to finish ninth in the league this year in the coaches preseason poll. 13th-ranked Santa Clara Brigham Young were picked as co-favorites in the poll.
• SMC returns its two top scorers, Jalyen Crim and Jordyn Cunningham, who both posted double-digit points in 2018 and will be seniors this season.

About Montana

• The Grizzlies return seven starters from a 2018 squad that went 7-9-6 overall and 3-2-4 in the Big Sky.
• Montana finished fifth in the Big Sky standings last year, but pulled three upsets in the Big Sky Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament. The Grizzlies beat top-seeded Weber State 2-0 in the semifinals before downing third-seeded Northern Colorado 1-0 in the championship.
• The Grizzlies dropped a 5-1 match to Washington State in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. It was the fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament for Montana and the first since 2011.
• Claire Howard (GK) and Kennedy Yost (MF) were both named Honorable Mention All-Big Sky last season.

Radio, TV Coverage Announced for NDSU Women's Soccer
    A pair of NDSU women's soccer matches will air live on the radio and one match will be televised live during the upcoming season. NDSU's regular season home opener against Saint Mary's Aug. 23 and the regular season home finale against North Dakota (Oct. 31) will air live on Bison 1660 AM. The home match against South Dakota on Oct. 6 will be televised live on MidcoSN with Alex Heinert calling the action.

Head Coach Mike Regan
    Mike Regan begins his second season at the head coach of the Bison. An assistant coach for teams in the Missouri Valley and Big Ten Conferences over the previous six seasons before coming to NDSU, Regan was named head women's soccer coach at North Dakota State on Jan. 19, 2018.
    Regan came to NDSU after two seasons as a Big Ten assistant coach at Indiana University in Bloomington. Prior to Indiana, he was an assistant coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, for four seasons where he was part of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference championship team and the 2015 MVC Coaching Staff of the Year. Drake made four consecutive MVC tournament appearances.
    Before joining Drake, Regan was the head coach for the North Iowa Area Community College men's soccer team for five seasons, where he posted an impressive record of 74-17-6 and was named the NJCAA/ICCAC Men's Soccer Coach of the Year three times.
    Regan also has extensive coaching experience at the youth level. He is currently a staff coach with the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Girls Olympic Development Program and served as the head coach of the Iowa ODP '98 age group for three years. Regan holds a National 'A' Coaching License from the United States Soccer Federation.
    Regan earned a bachelor's degree from Waldorf College in 2009 and a master's degree from California University of Pennsylvania in 2011.

On the Horizon
    The Bison will hit the road for a pair of matches next weekend on the East Coast. NDSU will take part in the TD Bank Classic in Burlington, Vermont. The Bison will face Vermont on Friday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. (Central) before finishing the weekend with a match against New Hampshire on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 2:30 p.m. (Central).