NDSU at South Dakota State University – October 7, 2006

The Bison lost their first road match of the year on an incredibly windy Saturday afternoon in Brookings, SD. NDSU won the coin toss and elected to give the Jackrabbits the very strong wind advantage in the first half. SDSU kept pressure on the Bison due to the wind at their backs, but NDSU’s defense of Jared Misialek, Bob Smith, Allen Wilkens and Kellen Nesvig denied any opportunities early besides of a handful of long outside shots. In fact, the wind was so strong that SDSU had trouble sending through balls without the ball cruising past its target and going out of bounds for a goal kick. The NDSU offense only threatened a few times in the first half as the Bison were only able to muster 2 shots in the opening 45 minutes. In the 29th minute, an SDSU midfielder corralled the ball near the end line and sent a pass on the ground into the box. A Jackrabbit forward slid in and somehow got just enough of it to sneak the ball past the diving Bison goalkeeper Tom Erickson. NDSU was able to keep SDSU off the board for the remainder of the first half with smart marking on defense and solid overall physical play, and the teams went into the break with the Jackrabbits up 1-0.

The Bison had the wind advantage in the second half, but SDSU proved to have the hustle advantage. It seemed as though nearly every 50-50 ball was won by a player wearing SDSU blue instead of NDSU green, especially during the first 15 minutes of the second half. Poor marking in the midfield led to a few open runs by SDSU players, and the Jackrabbits actually had the better scoring opportunities early on. The Bison then got back to how they had been successful all season—great short passing and good movement off of the ball. They were rewarded in the 64th minute when a sublime sequence of passing between NDSU forwards and midfielders led to Selam Ahmed finding Sham Funk wide open inside of the box. Funk blasted the shot past the SDSU keeper to tie the game. However, the lead was short-lived, as the poor marking in the midfield led to another open run for an SDSU player. He put a well-placed bending shot past Erickson to regain the lead for SDSU. The Bison tried frantically to get another equalizer for the remaining 20 minutes, but their touch escaped them when they needed it the most. SDSU played keep-away as much as possible in the waning moments and were able to hold on for a victory. The loss dropped NDSU’s record to 8-2-1 (6-2-1 in the GPSC) while SDSU improved to 8-2.