Home opener on tap for Soccer

Friday, August 25

Brookings, S.D.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

North Dakota

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

8/23/2017 11:15:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Jacks travel to Kansas City Sunday

GAMES 3 & 4: South Dakota State (0-2) vs North Dakota (2-0); at UMKC (0-2)

When	Friday, August 25 \| 6 p.m.	Sunday, August 27 \| 1 p.m.
Where	Fishback Soccer Park \| Brookings, S.D.	Durwood Soccer Stadium \| Kansas City, Mo.
TV	Jackrabbit All-Access Portal	WAC Digital Network
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com	GoJacksLive.com
Live Audio	n/a	UMKCKangaroos.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| North Dakota \| UMKC
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| #RabbitsFutbol

Previewing the Week
South Dakota State welcomes North Dakota to town Friday for its home opener at Fishback Soccer Park. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. The first 250 fans in attendance will receive a free mini soccer ball.

The Jacks close the weekend with a trip to Kansas City to face UMKC Sunday at 1 p.m.

Friday's game will be streamed through the Jackrabbit All-Access portal, and live stats will be provided. Sunday's contest will have video through the WAC Digital Network in addition to live audio and stats. Links for all games are available at GoJacks.com.

Scouting the Fighting Hawks
UND is off to its best start at the Division I level and comes to Brookings outscoring opponents, 5-0, this season. The Fighting Hawks (2-0) pulled off a 1-0 win over North Dakota State in its season opener last weekend, followed by a 4-0 victory over Western Illinois.

Katie Moller leads the team with a pair of goals, while Erin Svensson notched a goal and an assist in the opening weekend of action. In net, Catherine Klein and Olivia Swenson split starts and complete game performances, posting shutouts with 15 combined saves between the two.

The Fighting Hawks are coming off a 2016 season that saw the squad go 2-14-2 with a 1-9 mark in Big Sky play. Under new head coach Chris Logan (formally of Northern Iowa), UND was picked to finish 11th in the Big Sky Conference preseason poll for 2017.

SDSU leads the all-time series, 6-3-0, and has won three straight, including a double overtime win last season in Grand Forks, N.D. At home, State has claimed five of six against the Fighting Hawks. In the series, the Jackrabbits have outscored UND 22-13, and at home hold a 19-8 advantage in goals scored.

Scouting the Kangaroos
UMKC opened the year with a pair of losses at Oral Roberts (2-1) and Oklahoma State (4-1). The Kangaroos (0-2) saw Kelsey Mothershead and Abby Small record goals last weekend as Reighan Childers assisted on Small's score at OSU.

The 'Roos, who went 8-10-4 (3-2-2), were picked second in the WAC preseason poll with Lexie Howard and Childers being picked Preseason All-WAC selections. Howard played 11 matches for UMKC last season, scoring three goals with three assists. Childers had three goals, five assists and 43 shots in 19 contests in 2016. At keeper, Anna Lillig played all 180 minutes last weekend and tallied 14 saves with six goals allowed.

SDSU holds a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series against UMKC, dropping a road contest in 2015. Last season, SDSU claimed a narrow 3-2 win with goals from Jennie Scislow, Madison Yueill and McKenzie Wolf. The Jacks are 2-1 against UMKC on the road with a 5-3 goals advantage. Between all six matchups, State has outscored the 'Roos, 14-5.

Last Time Out
The Jackrabbits (0-2) dropped a pair of games last weekend in Utah, falling 1-0 in double overtime to Utah State and 4-1 to No. 20 Utah. Leah Manuleleua scored SDSU's lone goal, recording the first score of the game against No. 20 Utah Sunday. She was assisted on the play by Nicole Hatcher. The Jackrabbits put up 13 shots on the weekend and had eight on net. Between the pipes, Maggie Smither started both games and recorded 11 saves over 179 minutes. Taylor Lock closed out the match against Utah, tallying three saves in the final 14 minutes.

Jackrabbit Quick Hitters

Nicole Hatcher is now alone in fourth on SDSU's career assist record list with 17. No. 1 on the list, Diana Potterveld, had 21 assists in her career.
SDSU's game against Utah on Aug. 22 was its first against a ranked opponent since the 2014 NCAA Tournament when the Jacks faced off against North Carolina Nov. 14. SDSU is 1-7 all-time against Division I ranked opponents, claiming a win in 2008 against No. 15 Colorado in the NCAA Tournament.
South Dakota State is 5-11-2 all-time in season openers.
The Jackrabbits are 17-16-39 in games that go to overtime. In single overtime contests, SDSU is 7-9. In double overtime matches, the Jacks are 10-7-39.

Jacks Split Exhibition Contests
South Dakota State played a pair of exhibition contests last week, falling 1-0 to Wyoming in a neutral site game Friday before claiming a 5-1 win over Manitoba in its final preseason tune-up Sunday.

Against Wyoming, 20 Jackrabbits saw action and the team finished with four shots, locked in a tightly contested battle with the Cowgirls, who were picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West.
SDSU put on an offensive showcase against Manitoba, as seven Jacks recorded points and five scored goals. Bianca Madonia had a goal and two assists, Madison Chapman scored a goal and added an assist, and Nicole Hatcher, Darien Poelstra and Marisa Schulz recorded goals. Annie Williams and Allie Zueger had the other two Jackrabbit assists.

Jacks Tabbed Second In Preseason Poll
Three-time defending league champion South Dakota State was picked second in the Summit League's Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll, announced Aug. 10 by the organization. Just two points separate the top four in the poll, as the Jackrabbits received two first-place votes and 40 total points, tied with North Dakota State. Despite garnering only one first-place vote, Denver led the pack with 41 points and Oral Roberts, which received the most first-place vote (three), was fourth with 39 tallies. South Dakota and Omaha tied for fifth in the poll with 22 points, while Western Illinois (12) and Fort Wayne (eight) closed out the rankings.

Hatcher, Smither Named Players to Watch
As part of the preseason poll release Aug. 10, The Summit League announced its Players To Watch list, which included SDSU's Nicole Hatcher and Maggie Smither.

Nicole Hatcher turned in a standout season in 2016 where she earned All-Summit League First Team honors with 22 points (six goals, 10 assists) for the No. 2 spot on SDSU's single season assists record list. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota native had four game-winners, and tallied points in a school-record seven consecutive games.
After splitting time in the net last season as a redshirt freshman, Maggie Smither inherits the starting role between the pipes for the 2017 campaign with high aspirations. Smither set the school record for goals against average with a 0.34 mark and put together the second-best saves percentage (.911) in program history last year. She allowed just four goals over 1,057 minutes played in 2016, and came up with 41 saves while posting a 7-2-4 record in net. The Sioux Falls, S.D., native was named to the All-Freshman team by The Summit League last year and was the league's November Female Athlete of the Month. Smither came up big in the postseason as well, logging consecutive shutouts in the Summit League Final and NCAA Tournament First Round game.

A New Era
A new face is leading the Jackrabbits for just the second time in program history, as Brock Thompson assumed head coaching duties Jan. 31, 2017 after 17-year head coach Lang Wedemeyer stepped down. Thompson had been with the program nine years prior, dating back to 2008, and brings head coaching experience into the new role. Thompson spent three years as the head coach at University of Mary (Bismarck, N.D.) and three years at the University of North Dakota (Grand Forks, N.D.).

Senior Leadership
Eight seniors, including a pair of All-Summit League selections, graduated from the program last season, but SDSU returns four additional all-league honorees and four incoming seniors who combined for 14 of SDSU's 30 total goals and 11 of State's 22 total assists last year. The group has made an impact in the off- and pre-seasons, leading a youthful team and keeping expectations high.

Nicole Hatcher and Tori Poole are coming off standout years that saw them garner All-Summit League First Team nods, as the pair tied for the team-lead with six goals each and Hatcher added 10 assists, good enough for second all-time in school history.
Jennie Scislow started 16 games for the Jacks last season and had a pair of goals, logging over 1,000 minutes in the field.
Julia Lam was named team captain for the 2017 campaign after playing in all 21 games last year, firing 10 shots on goal from the midfield with one assist.
Bianca Madonia saw action in 15 games last year and started one game, playing 305 minutes in the field with three shots.

Young Gun
Alexa Hepner is back as the most seasoned defender for the Jackrabbits this season, playing all but 51 available minutes for the back line in 2016. The sophomore set the school's single season record for minutes played (1,970) and was part of a defensive unit that allowed just 15 goals on the year with 10 shutouts. She has played all 192 available minutes for SDSU in 2017 and joins a trio of juniors (Annie Williams, Kyli Nelson and Kelsi Wipf) and a freshmen duo (Molly Ballinger and Kaitlin Zabel) as defenders this season.

Jacks on the Air
South Dakota State women's soccer and the Jackrabbit Sports Network have announced a partnership with Brookings Radio for three broadcasts this season. Fans can tune into 1430 KBRK-AM for Jackrabbit games against Iowa State (Sept. 1), South Dakota (Oct. 26) and North Dakota State (Oct. 29). The audio will also be streamed for free through the Jackrabbit All-Access portal. Subscribers of the video stream will hear the broadcast as part of their package for those games as well. Tyler Merriam and Kiley Cirillo will call the action. Merriam is the lead play-by-play voice for the Jackrabbit Sports Network, while Cirillo is the Brookings Fútbol Club Director of Coaching. Previously, Cirillo was the head women's soccer coach at the University of Indianapolis and Missouri Southern.

-GoJacks.com-