NDSU vs. Northern State University – October 22, 2005

The Bison broke their four game losing streak by recording a convincing 7-1 victory over Northern State on a chilly Saturday morning in Fargo. The game wasn’t played necessarily well by either team, and it took a while for both teams to get going. The Bison created a lot of pressure with the wind advantage in the first half, but they couldn’t take a touch on the ball without the ball flying yards away. Forward Selam Ahmed entered the game in the 14th minute and got the scoring going almost immediately. Pat Beaver sent a pass across the net, and Ahmed’s first touch of the game went in the net to give the Bison a lead. Three minutes later, NDSU struck again when Ahmed sent a through pass to Nathan Shubert. Shubert ripped a shot that the NSU keeper deflected, but it still found the net. Eric Stanley got on the board in the 25th minute when defender Josh Sanderson sent a great cross to Stanley, who headed it in to put the Bison up by 3. After the flurry of goals, the Bison reverted to rather poor play for the remainder of the first half. The Wolves earned their lone goal of the game in the 42nd minute when a forward got behind the defense and took a shot from about 15 yards out. Bison goalkeeper Nate Fitterer dove on the ball, but the shot snuck underneath him, and the half ended with NDSU up 3-1. The Bison started the second half off rather sluggishly, but they got going again 10 minutes into the half. Stanley made a run along the right baseline and sent a pass to a wide open Fernando Bales, who tapped it in for his third goal of the season. Stanley scored again 12 minutes later off of one of NDSU’s 21 corner kicks in the game. Thomas Larson sent a perfect ball and Stanley sent in his second header of the game. The Bison finished off the game with two players getting their first goals of the season – in the 76th minute, midfielder Ardy Mahinfalah left a pass at the top of the box for defender Mike Adams. Adams sent a well-placed shot into the bottom right corner of the net for NDSU’s sixth goal of the game. Mahinfalah got his first goal of the season in the 90th minute off of another great corner kick from Thomas Larson. The second half showed improved play by the Bison, except for a few careless mistakes here and there. The win that finished off the Bison’s regular season upped NDSU’s record to 7-7-2 (7-5-2 in conference play), while the Wolves fell to 3-10.