NDSU at Northern State University – September 9, 2007

After a night of team bonding on South Dakota’s largest indoor water slide, never ending pasta at Olive Garden, and Mario Party, the Bison were ready to tackle Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. NDSU started game with a goal in the 3^rd minute when Brent Nelson crossed to Luanga Njoya who trapped it down and passed it past the keeper from 10 yards out. The Bison never looked back. With senior captain Bob Smith a little banged up from the previous day’s game, the other captain, Brad Bateman, was forced to step in and lead the defense. Along with Allen Wilkens, Ardy Mahinfalah, and Dan Salyards, the Bison defense completely shut down all offensive threats from the Wolves. Freshman forward Abe Kamare netted his first collegiate goal in the 34^th minute with a tap in after a header pass from freshman Lyle Witham. In the 43^rd minute, Njoya scored his 4^th goal of the weekend. This one came off a Rob Choiniere through ball that Njoya dribbled past several Wolf defenders and the goalkeeper for the goal. NDSU blew a couple of other chances to score before half but gladly took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

It didn’t take long for the Bison to pick up where they left off in the first half. Brent Nelson started the second half with a goal after an Ardy Mahinfalah cross. NDSU played strong for the entire half with the help of their seven substitutes. One of these was freshman goalkeeper Rob Wroblewski from Fargo South High School. He came into the game for 35 minutes of shutout soccer. In the 75^th minute, the scoring continued with a through ball from Nelson to Eric Johnson who calmly put it past the keeper. The highlight shot of the day came from Rob Choiniere in the 77^th minute. Choiniere won a 50/50 ball and hit a half volley from 30 yards out. The ball shot high and like a 12-6 curveball, dropped in behind the keeper’s head. The last goal of the game came in the 85^th minute from Taylor Zimmerman who hit a great shot after a pass from Kamare. The Bison won the game 7-0 to bring their season record to 2-0-0. Northern State fell to 0-2-0 on the year.