Scene Setter
    The North Dakota State women's soccer team returns to action with a pair of weekend matches against Omaha. The two teams will face each other at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26 and at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28. Both matches will be played in the Dacotah Field Bubble.

2021 Spring Season Attendance Policy
    For matches played in the Dacotah Field Bubble during the 2021 spring season, fans will not be allowed due to space limitations from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The Series with Omaha
    NDSU owns an 8-5-1 lead in the all-time series that dates back to a 3-1 Bison victory on Oct. 10, 1999 in Fargo. Omaha has won back-to-back matches in the series, after NDSU held a 6-0-1 record in the previous seven meetings. 

North Dakota State Notes

• NDSU earned a weekend sweep of Western Illinois last week, pitching a shutout in both matches. This marks the first time since three-straight 2-0 victories during the 2017 season NDSU has posted three shutouts in a row. NDSU has a pair of school record five match shutout streaks in 1999 and 2011.
• Freshman Olivia Lovick scored both goals in the win on Sunday. She now has four career goals in four matches played. 
• The Bison split the opening weekend of league play with Kansas City. The Roos took a 3-2 decision on Friday, while the Bison bounced back with a 2-0 shutout on Sunday.
• Senior Brookelyn Dew scored the first goal in each match for the Bison, while Lovick added the second goal in each match.
• Junior Aly Cole made her first career appearance in the net in the series finale, pitching a shutout against the Roos while adding three saves.

 
About Omaha

• The Mavericks are 2-0-2 on the year after a weekend sweep of North Dakota. In the first weekend of the year, Omaha had a pair of scoreless ties with South Dakota State.
• Omaha is one of 26 teams that have played a match this year to not allow a goal. 
• Mia Reedtz Rehde Olesen and Madeline Smith have each pitched a pair of shutouts in the goal for the Mavericks. Olesen ranks 75th in the nation with 4.5 saves per match.
• Andrea Daves and Sophia Green have each scored a game-winning goal for Omaha.
• Hannh Heinemann, Green and Daves each have two goals scored, while Heinemann leads the Mavericks with five points on the year.

NDSU in Season Openers
    With a 3-2 loss to Kansas City on Feb. 12, the Bison dropped to 16-10 all-time in season openers. Last year, the Bison beat St. Mary's 1-0 on August 23, winning the season opener for the second-straight year. The Bison are now 9-4-1 all-time in the Summit League opener. 

Lovick Among Nation's Best
    Freshman Olivia Lovick is one of 13 freshman across the country that have scored four or more goals this season. A majority of those players have played in over 10 matches, as some teams played during both the fall and spring seasons. Lovick is the only player among the 13 that scored four goals in the first four matches of their collegiate careers against NCAA schools.

25 Years of NDSU Soccer
    The 2019 season marked the 25th season of soccer at NDSU. In the first 25 years of NDSU soccer, the Bison owned a 248-184-31 (.569) all-time record, including a 131-43-8 (.742) mark in home matches. In six seasons at Dacotah Field, the Bison are 35-17-3 (.664). 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 18 of the 25 seasons played. 

NDSU Picked Seventh in Summit League Preseason Poll
    The North Dakota State women's soccer team is picked to finish seventh in the Summit League Women's Soccer Preseason Poll, announced Tuesday, Jan. 26 by the league office.
    NDSU finished fifth in the standings last season, missing the conference tournament for the first time in 10 years. The Bison received 25 points in the poll, sitting three points ahead of Omaha and four points behind North Dakota. Defending league champion Denver was picked to repeat with seven first place votes and 63 points, while South Dakota State was picked second with 58 points and the remaining two first place votes. Oral Roberts (45 points), South Dakota (41) and Kansas City (32) rounded out the top five.
    The top four regular-season finishers will qualify for The Summit League Women's Soccer Championship, which will be played in Omaha April 15-17. 

Last Time Out
    The North Dakota State soccer team pitched its third-straight shutout on Sunday, defeating Western Illinois 2-0 at the Dacotah Field Bubble. NDSU improved to 3-1 on the year, while Western Illinois dropped to 0-4.
    Freshman Olivia Lovick did all the scoring for the Bison on Sunday. She tallied goals in the 55th and 71st minutes, as she now has three goals in four career matches. The first goal came off a deflected shot from Jess Hanley, as she recorded her second career assist. Goalkeeper Abby Wilkinson earned the assist on Lovick's second goal, as she booted the ball deep into Leatherneck territory directly to Lovick.
    Lovick had two shots on goal, while Aliya Owens, Hanley and Kate Swanis each had a shot on goal. Wilkinson recorded five saves in the net, as she improved to 1-1 on the season. NDSU had an 18-17 advantage in shots. The victory was the seventh-straight over Western Illinois, while the Bison improved to 7-2-1 on Sunday's in Summit League play under Head Coach Mike Regan.

Bison Women's Soccer Earns United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award
    The North Dakota State University women's soccer team earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for exemplary performance in the classroom during the 2019-20 academic year. 
    The Bison posted a 3.63 team GPA for 2019-20, extending an impressive run of earning the Team Academic Award for the 18th time in the past 19 years. The 2019-20 school year was the 20th time the Bison have won the award since it was introduced in 1996.
    To qualify for the award, a team must have a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher for the entire academic year.

Strand, Douglass Named to Summit League "Players to Watch" List
    Bison sophomores McKenna Strand and Lavin Douglass were named to the "Players to Watch" list by the league coaches. Both players were selected to the Summit League All-Freshman Team last season. Strand appeared in 17 matches, including seven starts. Douglass started 16 of the 18 matches she played in, while scoring a goal against South Dakota.

Last Time Against Omaha
    A goal in the first 10 minutes for Omaha was enough for the Mavericks to defeat the North Dakota State soccer team 1-0 Oct. 10, 2019 in the first Summit League road match for the Bison. The loss dropped NDSU to 6-5-1 overall and 1-1 in league play, while Omaha improved to 4-7-1 and 1-1 in the Summit League. 
    In the eighth minute, Abby Meader scored the only goal of the match for the Omaha victory. Meader took a pass from Jaden Thiem and found the back of the net in the bottom left corner. 
    Brookelyn Dew and Elyse Huber led the Bison with three shots apiece, with Dew having the only two shots on goal for the Bison. Mariah Haberle added a pair of shots. Monica Polgar recorded six saves in the net.
    Both teams had 11 shots, while Omaha held a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal.

Head Coach Mike Regan
    Mike Regan begins his third 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
    NDSU will hit the road for the first time next weekend, as the Bison travel to preseason favorite Denver on Friday, March 5 and Sunday, March 7. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. (Central) on Friday and 1 p.m. (Central) on Sunday.