NDSU vs. University of North Dakota – September 16, 2006

The Bison suffered their first loss of the 2006 season in a tough 1-0 loss to UND on a humid Saturday afternoon in Fargo. Both teams played at a very high level throughout the hard-fought match. The game started out with UND trying to feed the ball to their speedy forwards with through balls, but the NDSU defense of Jared Misialek, Bob Smith, Allen Wilkens, Dan Salyards and Sham Funk was equal to the task. The Bison attempted to build their attack both on the flanks and through the middle of the field, but UND always had numbers back to clear the ball away. NDSU had a couple of nice scoring opportunities in the first stanza, but the shots were off target. Midfielder Brad Bateman had a header carom off of the crossbar midway through the first half, which proved to be the closest that the Bison came to notching a goal early on. Although the game was well played on both sides, neither team had a goal to show for it at halftime.

The Sioux continued to send long balls to their forwards in the second half and they struck first in the 56th minute. Their star forward made a quick run up the right side of the field past the NDSU defense and put a great shot past goalkeeper Tom Erickson to give the Sioux the lead. NDSU continued to press for a goal, but the UND midfield and defense marked up very well to close out opportunities. Most of the second half was once again evenly played, with both teams struggling against each other to produce scoring chances. With about 10 minutes remaining in the game, a UND player received his second yellow card of the match, leaving the Sioux a man short. NDSU really picked up the pressure, and finally started forcing the Sioux goalkeeper to make saves. In the 85th minute, the Bison appeared to tie the game, but a controversial call overturned the goal. Midfielder Fernando Bales sent a long shot on the net that the Sioux keeper dove at and knocked away. Garett Johnson picked up the rebound and shot again and the goalkeeper jumped on the ball but had the ball squirt out behind him. Selam Ahmed got the ball and tapped it to Dmitri Barabanov who knocked the ball into the net. However, the assistant referee claimed the goalkeeper had possession of the ball when Ahmed gained possession and the goal was waived off. The Bison pressed hard to get a goal in the closing minutes, but they were unsuccessful. The loss drops the Bison’s record to 2-1-1 on the season (1-1-1 in the GPSC) while the Sioux improved to 3-0.