Bemidji State Earns Fifth Consecutive Win With 1-0 Shut Out of Augustana

MORRIS, Minn. - Behind Katie Meinhardt’s ninth goal of the season and Kari Torgerson’s fourth shutout of the 2004 campaign, the Bemidji State soccer team earned its fifth consecutive win Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 triumph over Augustana in the championship game of the University of Minnesota-Morris Cougar Classic. The Beavers have now tied their program-best five-win total of 2003 just seven games into this season.

Although the match ended as a defensive struggle, BSU tallied the game’s lone goal just three minutes into the contest, as sophomore Katie Meinhardt (Maple Grove, Minn.) continued her offensive surge by scoring her 20th point of the year and her first game-winning marker of the year. Sophomore Whitney Sengthao (Duluth, Minn.) earned her team-leading fourth assist on the goal.

After Meinhardt’s tally, the Beaver defense answered by holding the Vikings scoreless the rest of the match.

“Katie got the one big goal and then our defense picked their play up and carried us the rest of the day,” Head coach Jim Stone said. “Our starting back four unit of Cristina Egnell (Brooklyn Cetner, Minn.), Tegan Moehn (Ramsey, Minn.), Erin Foss (Bismarck, N.D.) and Tracy Ringgenberg (Baldwin, N.D.) played really well today.”

In addition to the play of BSU’s defense, sophomore goalkeeper Kari Torgerson (New Hope, Minn.) was stellar in the net, making seven saves, while earning her fourth consecutive shutout. Torgerson is now tied for first all-time with Nikki Dalka (2000-02) in career shutouts with eight and the netminder has also set a school record for longest shutout sequence by holding her opponents scoreless for 361:13.

“Kari played her best game of the year today and she had one save in particular that was huge for us,” Stone said.

Although today’s win marks another milestone for the Beaver soccer program Stone believes his team has its sights set on bigger goals set prior to the season.

“We set a goal for ourselves of achieving a pretty high win total and although we are excited with this we remain cautiously optimistic,” Stone said. “We have to keep working hard as we are working towards something a lot higher than where we are right now.”

BSU improves to 5-2-0, while Augustana drops to 2-3-0. Bemidji State will be in action again Saturday, Sept. 18 and Sunday, Sept. 19 with matches against Jamestown and Minnesota-Morris. The Beavers take on the Jimmies at 3 p.m. on Saturday, before facing off with the Cougars at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Please note that Saturday’s match was originally scheduled to start at 1 p.m., but has been changed to 3 p.m.

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