NDSU vs. University of Mary – September 11, 2004

The Bison opened up their season at home against the University of Mary, and although the game was decidedly dominated by NDSU, the Marauders ended up stealing a win from the home team, 2-1. The first half started with Mary dictating the play for the first 5 to 10 minutes, but the Bison rebounded and controlled the majority of play for the first half. However, they could not put away numerous scoring opportunities and the first half ended 0-0. The Bison continued to put pressure on in the second half, and were finally rewarded about 10 minutes into the second half when Tim Pohfal made a perfect crossing pass to a streaking Pat Beaver who put the shot away for the Bison’s first goal of the season. Mary fought back and capitalized on a scramble in front of the net 10 minutes later, scoring when the NDSU defense was unable to clear the ball from their net. The Bison continued to apply pressure Mary for the rest of the game, but were unable to finish on numerous opportunities. With about 9 minutes remaining, the Marauders took the lead for good when they capitalized on a corner kick with an excellently placed header that squeaked past NDSU goalkeeper Ian Costello. The loss moved Mary to 1-0 in the conference and NDSU to 0-1.