FARGO, N.D. - The North Dakota State women's soccer team will begin the 28th year in program history on Friday as the Bison kick off the 2022 season against Tarleton in Thibodaux, Louisiana at the Lester Bimah Battle on the Bayou. The Bison are slated to take on the Texans at 7:30 p.m. at the Nicholls Soccer Complex on the campus of Nicholls State University.
 
Series History
The Bison will take part in a first on Friday as Tarleton will open up it's women's soccer era with it's first-ever regular season game. The transitioning NCAA DI program announced the addition of soccer in January of 2021 and the program is competing in it's first season in the fall of 2022.
 
NDSU has faced Tarleton three times in other sports since the Texans moved to DI, with softball claiming a pair of wins in the spring and men's basketball claiming a 54-53 win in November of 2021.
 
Preseason Notables
Ahead of the 2022 season, the Bison had just one preseason match up, defeating Viterbo 7-0 at Dacotah Field on August 11. Viterbo came off of a 10-5 season in the NAIA, including a conference title and a trip to the NAIA National Tournament.
 
Four different Bison scored in the game against the V-Hawks, including a hat trick from junior Paige Goaley and a brace from sophomore Josie Fieldman, with both of her goals coming from 30+ yards. Junior Kelsey Kallio scored from the penalty spot and senior Lavin Douglass also scored from distance.
 
The Perfect Hat Trick
After missing the last two seasons due to injury, junior Paige Goaley made her long-awaited return to the pitch a thrilling one in the preseason exhibition against Viterbo. Goaley not only scored a hat trick, but completed the feat of the "Perfect Hat Trick" as she scored her first goal with her right foot, her second goal with her left foot, and then finished it off with a header for her third and final goal. The South St. Paul, Minnesota native scored all three of her goals in a 26-minute stretch.
 
Scouting Tarleton
The Texans will officially begin the soccer era against the Bison, but Tarleton opened up the year with an exhibition contest against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on August 12, claiming a 1-0 victory. Kiki Baurmann, a graduate transfer from Tennessee-Martin, scored in the 76th minute for the game's only goal. Mikayla Kendall and Rylie Bloomfield combined for three saves on the defensive side.
 
Along with Baurmann, Tarleton has five more transfers to join 16 freshman on it's inaugural team. Macie Witter is a senior transfer from Georgia, while Nicole Fels (La. Tech) and Macie Johnson (Stephen F. Austin) are junior transfers.
 
Hello Pete
When NDSU takes the field on Friday, the Bison will be going up against former head coach Pete Cuadrado, who spent nine seasons in Fargo from 2003-11. Cuadrado is the program's all-time wins leader (93), and led the team to a pair of conference titles and a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2010, where NDSU tied No. 6 Texas A&M 1-1 in the opening round.
 
Cuadrado would go on to the University of Wyoming for nine seasons before taking on the project of creating the Tarleton program from scratch. It will be the first time the Bison have faced Cuadrado since he left Fargo.
 
Against Teams From Texas
The Bison will play a team from the Lone Star State for the second-straight season. Overall, NDSU has played four games against teams from Texas, holding a 1-1-2 record. The Bison tied Baylor in 2009 before a win over Lamar two days later in late August. NDSU then tied Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before failing to advance on penalty kicks. NDSU fell to Baylor last season in Fargo.
 
Bison in the Bayou
The Bison will make their third trip to Louisiana in program history, having played in 'The Pelican State' in 2005 and 2007. NDSU is 2-0 all time in Louisiana, with a pair of shutout victories. NDSU defeated Troy 2-0 at the Tulane Tournament in New Orleans on August 26, 2005. NDSU was slated to play Alabama two days later but the game was canceled due to the approaching Hurricane Katrina.
 
In 2007, North Dakota State traveled to Shreveport to take on short-term Summit League foe Centenary. The Bison would go on to defeat the Ladies 3-0 on October 28.
 
Season Openers
NDSU is 16-11 all-time in season openers dating back to the program's first match in September of 1995. In NDSU's Division I era, the Bison are 10-8 overall in season openers.
 
Friday will be the sixth time the Bison open the season in a neutral-site match up, holding a 4-1 record all-time and a 2-1 record in DI play. The last time the Bison opened the season in a neutral match up, NDSU defeated Belmont 2-0 in Minneapolis at the Minnesota Gopher Kickoff Tournament on August 23, 2013.
 
On This Day: August 19
The Bison have played four times on August 19, with three of those matches coming in season openers. NDSU is 1-3 in those games, including 1-2 in the season opener, with a 4-1 win over Green Bay in 2018. Four different Bison scored in the win, including three inside the first 30 minutes.
 
Guess Who's Back?
The Bison return seven starters from the 2021 squad, as well as 19 letter winners. Olivia Lovick is the top returning goal scorer, with eight career goals. Lavin Douglass and Jess Hanley also return with three goals each. Hanley, along with Kelsey Kallio, are the top returning assists leaders with six career assists each.
 
NDSU also returns two goalkeepers with considerable experience in Abby Wilkinson and Sofia Howe. Wilkinson started the season in goal for the Bison in 2021 before an injury sidelined her. Howe finished out the year in goal. How has 67 career saves and Wilkinson has 31, along with one cleansheet.
 
Team Captains
Head coach Mike Regan announced that senior Dani Stuber and junior Paige Goaley will serve as the team captains in 2022. Stuber is in her fifth season with the Bison, while Goaley is in her fourth year.
 
Howe In Top 10 For Career Saves
In her final appearance of the 2021 season, Sofia Howe moved into the top 10 in career saves in NDSU's history. Howe begins the season with 67 as a Bison, 10 behind Renee Keller for ninth overall. Howe is also sixth in NDSU's DI era, with Karli Kopietz next on that list at 100.
 
NDSU Receives United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award
The Bison earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award over the summer, being recognized for their exemplary performance in the classroom during the 2021-22 academic year. To qualify for the award, a team must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher for the entire academic year. The Bison posted a 3.43 team GPA for 2021-22.
 
Lovick, Nead Named Summit League Players to Watch
Olivia Lovick and Alicia Nead were named Summit League Players to Watch in the league preseason release. Lovick and Nead, both juniors on the Bison squad, headline a returning group of seven starters and 19 letter winners from last season.
 
Lovick, a forward for the Bison, played in all 16 games with 14 starts in 2021, logging 1,162 minutes on the pitch. She recorded two goals, both against Oral Roberts (Oct. 1) in a 3-2 victory and assisted on one goal, setting up the game-winner in the final minute of a 2-1 victory over North Dakota. Lovick is the top returning goal scorer overall for NDSU with eight career goals and three assists in two seasons.
 
Nead also played in all 16 games with 11 starts in the midfield for NDSU, logging 835 minutes last season. Nead scored her first career goal in 2021, scoring the game winner in the final minute of a victory against UND. She also assisted on one goal in the 3-2 win against ORU.
 
Picked Ninth in Summit League
North Dakota State was picked ninth in the Summit League preseason coaches' poll. The Bison received 17 points in the vote, slotting them one spot below where they finished the 2021 season. The Bison finished eighth last season after a 3-6-0 record with wins over Oral Roberts (picked 6th), St. Thomas (picked 8th) and North Dakota (picked 10th).
 
Head Coach Mike Regan
Mike Regan begins his fifth season as the head coach of the Bison. NDSU has had five All-Summit League selections in Regan's tenure, including four first team selections. NDSU has also had four All-Summit League Freshman Team/All-Newcomer Team selections and two Summit League All-Tournament Team picks.
 
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 MVC Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
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.
 
Higgins Joins Staff
Chris Higgins, who joined the Bison from Loras College, will serve as an assistant and will work with the goalkeepers, a role he held at Loras, as he helped guide the women's program to the NCAA Division III Final Four last season. Prior to his coaching career, Higgins was an NAIA Academic All-American goalkeeper at Ashford University, where he was also the AII-League First Team and Goalkeeper of the Year. Higgins helped lead Ashford to the NAIA Final Four in 2013.
 
Up Next
The Bison will remain in Louisiana to wrap up the opening weekend and the Lester Bimah Battle on the Bayou, as NDSU faces another first time opponent with a match up against Southern University. Kickoff against the Lady Jaguars is slated for 11 a.m. CT on Sunday, August 21 at the Nicholls Soccer Complex on the campus of Nicholls State University.