BEMIDJI, Minn. - On a cold afternoon, the Bemidji State University soccer team defeated Minnesota State-Moorhead in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament. The Beavers used a goal from Katie Meinhardt (Jr.; Maple Grove, Minn.) and a perfect performance in net from Kari Torgerson (Jr.; New Hope, Minn.) to gain the 1-0 victory.
“It was nice to have a host a game, especially for the seniors since this is the first one,” said BSU Head Coach Jim Stone. “We were glad to come away with the victory.”
The Beavers scored the only goal of the afternoon in the middle of the first half. After forcing ball out of bounds on the Dragons, Kelly Hyvare lined up the corner kick for BSU. Hyvare’s kick, which sailed high into a crowd of players, was touched by Christina Hicks (So.; Minnetonka, Minn.) and pushed over to Meinhardt who one-timed the ball into the back of the net. Meinhardt’s team-leading ninth goal of the season also marked the 30th of her career, tying her with BSU soccer Hall of Famer Becky Elk for first on the all-time goal scoring list at Bemidji State. Hicks and Hyvare each picked up an assist on the goal, giving them three and six on the season. Hyvare’s six give her the team assist lead.
On the defensive side, the Beavers turned away the Dragons allowing just five shots and no goals. Torgerson collected all five Dragon shots, marking her seventh shutout of the year. Her seventh ties a her own BSU single season shutout record she set last season. Torgerson improved her season record to 11-2-5.
“We knew MSU-Moorhead would bring us a tough game,” said Stone, referring to the low-scoring victory. “They might have been the seven seed but in the NSIC every team is tough.”
With the win, Bemidji State advances to the semifinal round of the NSIC tournament to face Northern State, who defeated Concordia-St. Paul in other first round action. The semifinal and final rounds will all be played at the home field of the highest remaining seed at the end of first round play. Winona State, the number one seed, had not concluded its game the time of this press release.
“This is a good win, now we will have to prepare to bring our best at the final four of tournament this weekend,” commented Stone.
The victory for BSU was the 12th of the season setting a new single season wins record. Last season’s 11 wins was the previous record for the Beavers.
Bemidji State’s semifinal game will take place on Nov. 5 with a time and site to be announced. BSU will take a 13 game unbeaten streak versus NSIC opponents into the match dating back to a Sept. 11 loss at Winona State.
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