SECOND HALF BURST BOOSTS SDSU OVER UND

Friday, October 21

Grand Forks, N.D.

3:00 PM

South Dakota State University

12-0-5, 6-0-2

North Dakota

6-8-4, 2-4-2

South Dakota St.

North Dakota

Abria Brooker

Photo by: Megan Glover | South Dakota State

10/21/2022 5:58:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Andrew Pedersen

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – After a 68-minute scoreless span, South Dakota State scored a trio of goals in a roughly 10-minute stretch as the Jackrabbit women's soccer team defeated North Dakota 3-0 on Friday at Bronson Field. The victory improved SDSU to 12-0-5 overall, 6-0-2 in Summit League play, and clinched an opening round bye and top-two seed for the Jacks in the conference tournament.

The Jackrabbits controlled the flow of the match through the opening 45 minutes but were held off the scoreboard by the host Fighting Hawks. Avery LeBlanc had two of SDSU's five shots on goal while keeping UND's attack at bay as the two sides went into the halftime break.

"Credit to North Dakota, I thought they were really hard to break down," SDSU head coach Brock Thompson said. "As the game wore on, we kind of had a feeling of, 'if we could score a goal, it would really start to open up.'"

The Fighting Hawks had the first two corner kicks of the second half and held some possession before the Jackrabbits scored the eventual game winner.

In the 69th minute, Karlee Manding used a free kick before the defense was set up and sent a pass over to Laney Murdzek. The SDSU midfielder struck a shot from the middle of the box and UND goalkeeper Madi Livingston was only able to get a fingertip on it as the Jacks took a 1-0 lead.

SDSU continued to push the pace following the goal and was rewarded in the 75th minute. Karlee Manding dribbled the ball into the box and was tackled, drawing SDSU's first penalty kick opportunity of the season. Jackrabbit defender Rachel Preston took the penalty kick and kicked it past Livingston for her first goal of the season.

The Jacks wrapped up scoring moments later. A deep pass into the box found Cece Limongi who headed a pass over to Abigail Kastens who dribbled around the defense. She dished the ball to Abria Brooker who connected on a left-footed strike into the net. The goal for Brooker was the first of her Jackrabbit career and put SDSU up 3-0 in the 80th minute.

Goalkeeper Jocelyn Tanner made two saves for the Jackrabbits in the second half and SDSU maintained a clean sheet in the victory.

"If that goal would have came earlier, it might have been a different game," Thompson said of Murdzek's goal. "(UND) had it compact and made it difficult for our players to find time and space on the ball. We were pretty dangerous on the counterattack, particularly in the start of the second half.

"I'm proud of our team. As the game wore on, we found ways to inject more energy into the game."

The Jackrabbits, with their 6-0-2 record in conference play and 20 points recorded against league foes, have secured hosting rights for the opening weekend of The Summit League Championship. SDSU is still able to earn the No. 1 seed, but Fishback Soccer Park will be the site of a quarterfinal match on Oct. 28 before the Jackrabbits face the winner of that match in the semifinals on their home pitch on Oct. 30 in Brookings.

"It is a big deal," Thompson said of his team sealing host rights to the first weekend of tournament play. "It's a bye, you're playing a team that played on Friday on Sunday, and it's another chance to play at Fishback which is important to our team. It's important to our seniors to have another game at Fishback and see how the weekend plays out."

Notes
Murzdek's goal was the fourth for her this season. She also had a team-high three shots while she was followed by LeBlanc and Brooker who each had two. SDSU outshot UND 18-3 in the contest. Kaycee Manding and Hayley Lindaman each played 90 minutes. Livingston had six saves for the Fighting Hawks who dropped to 6-8-4 (2-4-2).

Up Next
South Dakota State plays in its final regular season game at 1 p.m. on Sunday when the Jackrabbits face North Dakota State in Fargo.

-GoJacks.com-