The South Dakota State women's soccer team hopes to keep up the momentum heading into the last couple weeks of the schedule as they travel to North Dakota State Saturday to battle the Bison. The Jackrabbits come off a 2-0 weekend in conference play beating Southern Utah 4-3 and UMKC 3-0. The Jacks now stand at 9-2-4 overall and 4-1-1 in the Summit League.
“It is always exciting playing against our rivals. North Dakota State is very tough and hard to beat on their home field,” said head coach Lang Wedemeyer. “It is a big mentality game where we have to play focused, concentrated soccer for an entire game to get a result.”
Danni Healy jumps ahead of the pack in points after her two goals last week against SUU and UMKC. She leads with 15 points on the season on six goals and three assists. Healy sits in second place in the league. Kayla Braffet follows with 10 points on four goals and two assists.
Braffet leads the team in shots with 45 and 19 on-goal. Kaitlin Justice follows close behind with 42 shots, including 13 on-goal. Braffet stands at second place in the league in shots this season, while Justice sits in fourth. Justices also stands in third in the league in assists with five.
Elisa Stamatakis improved her record to 9-1-3 and 4-1-1 in league play after the two wins last week. She shutout UMKC for the seventh shutout on her career, as well as seventh shutout this season. Stamatakis leads the league in season shutouts. This week's Competition North Dakota State Bison – The Bison enter the matchup with the Jackrabbits 8-4-4 overall and 3-2-1 in the conference. Last week, North Dakota State notched a scoreless tie with UMKC and found a double overtime 1-0 victory at Southern Utah.
Brooklyn Dyce leads for the Bison with 11 points on the season on five goals and one assist. Holly Christian is also a powerful scorer for the Bison with four goals and one assist for nine points on the season.
Kalani Bertsch and Kathy Kelsey share the net time for NDSU. Bertsch stands at 4-3-4 on the season, while Kelsey stands at 4-1-0. Bertsch allowed nine goals, but notched 29 saves. Kelsey allowed seven goals and 22 saves.
The Jackrabbits are 5-5-1 against the Bison all-time.
Rabbits in the Record Books – Danni Healy needs one more point to break into the top-five career points list for SDSU. She has 45 points on her career. Healy is also fourth in career assists with 11 and tied for fourth in game-winners with seven on her career. She shares the tie with teammate Kaitlin Justice.
Kayla Braffet makes her way up the all-time assists list for SDSU. Braffet started the season in sixth place and moved up the list to third with 12 career assists.
Freshman Elisa Stamatakis is already making her mark on Jackrabbit soccer. Stamatakis stands in fourth place all-time with seven total shutouts on her career. She is also in third for most career wins with nine.
Stamatakis tallied four-straight shutouts in her first five games as a Jackrabbit. The streak is a tie for second most consecutive shutouts in Jackrabbit history. Former goalkeeper Nicole Lograsso recorded four in 2007. Lograsso is also in first with eight consecutive shutouts recorded in 2008.
Summit League Championship – SDSU is set to host the 2010 Summit League Women's Soccer Championship at Fishback Soccer Park. The four-team tournament will take place Nov. 5 and 7. Stay tuned to GoJacks.com for more information. Jackrabbit Extra – Subscribers to the Jackrabbit Extra on GoJacks.com can view all SDSU home soccer matches and select away events live on the internet. To subscribe to the Jackrabbit Extra, log onto GoJacks.com, select Jackrabbit Extra on the Audio/Video tab and click “sign up.” Jackrabbit Insider on FOX and FSN – “Jackrabbit Insider” airs at 10:30 p.m. Sundays on KTTW FOX 7. The show can also be seen on FOX Sports North Tuesdays at 6 p.m. CT. FOX College Sports Central will air the program Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. “Jackrabbit Insider” is also available through the Jackrabbit Extra video on-demand service at GoJacks.com.
Hosted by Tyler Merrium, “Jackrabbit Insider” is a weekly half-hour program that provides Jackrabbit fans with a behind-the-scenes look at South Dakota State University Athletics. Next Up – The Jackrabbits wrap up the regular season with a set of home matches against Oral Roberts Oct. 29 and Centenary Oct. 31. The action is slated to begin at 6 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, from Fishback Soccer Park.