SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – With regular season play in the books, North Dakota State emerged with its first regular season title since 2016. The Bison put together a 6-1-1 ledger, accumlating a league-best 19 points and will host the 2024 Summit League Women's Soccer Championship semifinals and title match.

Before the final four teams arrive in Fargo, two quarterfinal matches will be played this weekend to see who will join the top-seeded Bison and No. 2 seed Denver.

The first of those quarterfinals will feature No. 6 seed South Dakota against No. 3 seed South Dakota State on Friday, Nov. 1. Kickoff at the Fishback Soccer Stadium in Brookings is set for 6 p.m. CT. The second quarterfinal will pit No. 5 seed Oral Roberts against No. 4 seed Omaha on the Mavericks' home field at Caniglia Field.

Both quarterfinal games are rematches of regular season tilts that ended in 1-1 draws. South Dakota and South Dakota State played to their draw on Oct. 11 in Brookings, while ORU and Omaha played to their draw on Oct. 20 in Tulsa.

South Dakota and SDSU have never met in Division I postseason play, while the ORU-Omaha tilt is a rematch of the 2022 title game. The teams played to a 0-0 draw and the Mavericks won the trophy with a 3-1 edge in penalty kicks.

Around The League
•  After being selected to finish seventh in the coaches’ preseason poll, North Dakota State claimed its first regular season title since 2016 and third overall after defeating St. Thomas 2-1 on the final day of the regular season.
• North Dakota State rookie Morgan Russmann capped an outstanding regular season for the Bison with her second straight brace in the 2-1 win over the Tommies.
• Russman enters the postseason with a league-best 11 goals and shares the top spot with four game-winners, all of which came against Summit foes. St. Thomas’ Lexi Huber and Denver’s Ella Frost also had four game-winners.
• Denver earned the No. 2 seed after picking up road wins at South Dakota State (2-1) and South Dakota (2-0).
• DU’s win in Brookings was the first for the program as the Pios outshot the Jacks 22-8 and were the first team to hold SDSU to single-digit shots on the season.
• The Jackrabbits bounced back from the loss to DU by earning a 1-0 win over Oral Roberts in their last regular season match. Katelyn Beulke’s goal in the eighth minute held up as SDSU earned the No. 3 seed for postseason play.
• Freshman goalkeeper Stephanie Leckwold posted a scoreless 45-minute stint in net, logging a career-high of seven saves in the second half against the Golden Eagles, who mustered zero shots on goal in the first half.
• After a scoreless first half, Omaha scored twice to earn a 2-1 road win at Kansas City. Lindsey Burch’s goal in the 71st minute proved to the game-winner as the Mavericks improved to 4-1-3 in league play and their 15 points were good enough to secure the No. 4 seed.
• Maverick senior Grace Ostergaard ended the regular season as the program’s all-time leader for starts (93), appearances (93) and minutes played (7,708).
• Oral Roberts heads into the quarterfinals as the No. 5 seed with a 3-2-3 league record after a 1-1 draw with South Dakota and a 1-0 loss to South Dakota State over its final two games.
• Golden Eagle goalkeeper Alexa Riefer enters the postseason with 94 saves, which already ranks as the fifth most in a single season in ORU history.  Riefer ranks seventh all-time at ORU with 162 saves.
• South Dakota etched its way into the quarterfinals as the No. 6 seed with a 1-1 draw against Oral Roberts this past Thursday. The Coyotes finished with a 1-3-4 mark and seven points.
• Coyote goalkeeper Cambell Fischer logged 18 saves between the 1-1 draw with ORU and 2-0 loss to Denver, which included a career-high of 10 saves against the Pioneers.

2024 #SUMMITWSOC Championship
Quarterfinal | Friday, Nov. 1 | Summit League Network
Q1: (6) South Dakota vs. (3) SDSU – Brookings, S.D. | 6 p.m. CT
 
Quarterfinal | Saturday, Nov. 2 | Summit League Network
Q2: (5) Oral Roberts vs. (4) Omaha – Omaha, Neb. | 4 p.m. CT
 
Semifinals | Thursday, Nov. 7 | Summit League Network
S1: (2) Denver vs. Q1 Winner – Fargo, N.D. | 12 p.m. CT
S2: (1) NDSU vs. Q2 Winner – Fargo, N.D. | 3:30 p.m. CT
 
Championship | Sunday, Nov. 10 | Summit League Network
C: S1 Winner vs. S2 Winner – Fargo, N.D. | 1 p.m. CT

All Times Local To Site 
Key: SLN (Summit League Network).
 
Results
Thursday, Oct. 24
St. Thomas 0, North Dakota 0 
Denver 2, SDSU 1
Oral Roberts 1, South Dakota 1
 
Sunday, Oct. 27
Denver 2, South Dakota 0
SDSU 1, Oral Roberts 0
Omaha 2, Kansas City 1
NDSU 2, St. Thomas 1
 
#SummitWSOC