BEMIDJI, Minn. - On a pair of second-half goals,
the Bemidji State University (9-9; 2-4 NSIC) soccer team gained
its second league win of the season keeping its play-off hopes
alive. Sophomore Katie Meinhardt (Maple Grove, Minn.) not
only tied the game (2-2) with a goal in the 61st minute, she
also vaulted herself to No. 1 on the BSU single-season scoring
list with her 15th tally of the season.
Meinhardt surpasses Becky Elk, who scored 14 goals during
the 1999 campaign, for the top spot on the list.
"In many ways it was the perfect way for her to break
the record because it was an important goal," commented
BSU Head Coach Jim Stone. "The record means more for
the team that it does for her as an individual. She has kept
us in games with her goal-scoring ability. This was no different.
Today's goal tied the game for us."
The Beavers lit their side of the scoreboard first as Sophomore
Whitney Sengthao (Duluth, Minn.) took a pass from freshman
Megan Wallner (Bemidji, Minn.) to record her fifth marker
of the season. But MSU-Moorhead would send BSU to the locker
room at halftime trailing 2-1 after Maureen Ross scored twice
in the final 10 minutes of the half.
BSU returned to the field after the break determined to climb
back into the game.
Meinhardt and Lindsey Natwick took advantage of a two-on-one
situation to tie the game (2-2) in the 61st minute. And Bemidji
native Christina Hicks put the Beavers up for good when she
put a loose ball off a BSU corner kick past the Dragon goalkeeper.
Natwick was credited with her second assist of the game on
the play.
The victory keeps BSU in the hunt for a NSIC Tournament spot
for the first time in the school's history.
"We approached the game as if it were a playoff game,"
said Stone. "We still control our own destiny. Unfortunately
we didn't do the things we needed to do in the first half.
But in the second half we were able to increase our level
of intensity and score the goals we needed to win the game.
Hopefully we can apply this lesson in our last game against
the University of Minnesota-Crookston. We will need to come
out and play the full 90 minutes and not just half of the
game."
BSU travels to Grand Forks, N.D. Wednesday (Oct. 27) for
a 4:00 p.m. non-conference affair against the University of
North Dakota, then it is back to league play where the Beavers
will wrap up the 2004 regular-season with an important game
at the University of Minnesota-Crookston Saturday (Oct. 30).
That game is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start.
