FARGO, N.D. - The North Dakota State women's soccer team will be back on the road this weekend, traveling to the Twin Cities to take on Utah Tech and Chicago State in a pair of neutral-site non-conference match ups in the St. Thomas Women's Soccer Invitational in St. Paul. The Bison will take on Utah Tech on Saturday and face Chicago State on Monday. Both games will be at 1:30 p.m. and will be played at St. Thomas.
 
Series History
The Bison have faced Utah Tech (Formerly Dixie State) just one time in program history, with the contest coming last season in Boise, Idaho. The Bison fell 3-0 to then Dixie State.
 
The Bison have also faced Chicago State just one time in program history. NDSU picked up a 2-0 victory over Chicago State on Sept. 8 in 2019, with Elyse Huber scoring both goals for the Bison in the 53rd and 87th minutes. Maddie Burnstein also received a red card in the game against the Cougars, the last time a NDSU player has seen a red card, a run of 46 games.
 
Bison Coming Off Back-to-Back Draws to Open Season
NDSU opened up the season with a 1-1 tie last Friday night against Tarleton before a scoreless tie against Southern at the Lester Bimah Battle on the Bayou.
 
Against Tarleton, NDSU took the lead inside the first minute, as Paige Goaley, scored just 37 seconds into the contest to give the Bison the lead. Tarleton would answer with a goal in the 70th minute.
 
In the Southern contest, the Bison would heavily outshoot the Lady Jaguars but were unable to find a breakthrough. Sofia Howe made two saves to preserve a cleansheet on the defensive end.
 
Goaley Strikes NDSU's Fastest Goal
When junior captain Paige Goaley scored 37 seconds into the season opener against Tarleton, the South St. Paul, Minnesota native not only scored her first career goal, but she also etched her name into the Bison record books as she scored the fastest goal in NDSU's program history.
 
Goaley's 37-second goal broke the previous record of 39 seconds held by Lisa Leach, set on October 18, 1997 at Minnesota State-Mankato. The previous DI era record for the Bison was held by Britney Monteon, when she scored 52 seconds into a match against Fort Wayne on October 22, 2017.
 
Howe Records First Cleansheet as Bison
In Sunday's 0-0 tie against Southern, senior goalkeeper Sofia Howe picked up her first career shutout for NDSU. The Chula Vista, California native saw six shots from the Lady Jaguars and made two saves over 90 minutes to record her first collegiate cleansheet.
 
Against Teams from Utah
The Bison have played against opponents from the state of Utah 18 times in program history, compiling an even record of 8-8-2 in those matches. However, NDSU has just one win against teams from the Beehive State since 2012, going 1-5-0.
 
Facing Teams from Illinois
NDSU has had better success against teams from the Prairie State, as the Bison hold a 15-10-1 record in 26 career games against teams from Illinois. 13 of the last 17 games have been wins for the Bison including nine shutouts.
 
Bison in the Twin Cities
This weekend's games will be the ninth and tenth overall for NDSU in Minneapolis/St. Paul since the Bison moved to Division I in 2004. The Bison are 2-7-1 overall, but 2-0-1 in games against opponents other than Minnesota. The Bison picked up a 1-0 win over St. Thomas last season on the same field they will play this week. The Bison also have a 2-0 win against Belmont in 2013 and picked up a 1-1 tie before falling 3-4 on penalty kicks against Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament in 2010. Both of those games were played at the University of Minnesota.
 
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 currently sits with 69 as a Bison, eight behind Renee Keller for ninth overall. Howe is also sixth in NDSU's DI era, with Karli Kopietz next on that list at 100.
 
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 Goaley scored all three of her goals in a 26-minute stretch.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Up Next
NDSU will head west to the Rocky Mountains for its first true road games of the season as the Bison are slated to take on Wyoming and Northern Colorado next Friday and Sunday. The Bison will first travel to Laramie, Wyoming to battle the Cowgirls on September 2. The Bison will then face the Golden Bears of Northern Colorado in Greeley on September 4.