BEMIDJI, Minn.. -- Third-seed Minnesota State shutout second-seed Augustana, 4-0, in the semifinal game of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Soccer Tournament, Friday at Chet Anderson Stadium.
With the win, the Mavericks extended their unbeaten streak to 15 matches, which dates back to Sept. 19, and now own a 16-2-2 overall record. With the loss, the Vikings have fallen out of the NSIC Tournament with a 14-4-2 overall record.
The Mavericks saw the scoring open in their favor during Friday's match when a Vikings' defender kicked the ball back to her goalkeeper in search of support before it turned out to be errant, rolling past AU goalkeeper Jillian Barkus and into the net for an own goal. It marked the Mavericks' second own goal of the season and the week after MSU prevailed 1-0 in the last match over UMary in the NSIC Quarterfinals back at The Pitch on Friday. Insurance for the Mavericks' lead then came off the right leg of junior Brynn Desens who booted one into the left side of the goal in the first half on a penalty kick in the 22nd minute, which was drawn by sophomore Allie Williams. The Mavericks carried the 2-0 lead into the half with an 11-2 advantage in shots after dominating the first half.
In the second half, more insurance was provided when junior Jenny Vetter chipped one past Barkus for her team-high 17th goal of the season in the 52nd minute. On the helper, Williams raced through several AU defenders before getting the ball to Vetter to claim her team-high sixth assist of the season. The match then became a 4-0 affair when junior Nadia Lowery scored her sixth goal of the season off a long through-ball assist from Vetter. The Mavericks held on in the final minutes for a four-goal victory to advance to the NSIC Championship, Sunday.
Sophomore Mackenzie Rath (11-1-2) climbed up to a tie for sixth on MSU's all-time single-season shutouts list when she picked up her 10th shutout in the match. Now with 11 on her career, Rath was called upon to make four saves during the match. On the other end, Barkus (14-3-2) stopped seven of the Mavericks' 10 shots on goal while surrendering four goals, including the own goal in the first half.
In total, MSU outshot AU 16-10 with a 10-4 advantage in shots on goal. Each team took turns struggling with possession time after switching sides before and after the break due to strong winds in the Bemidji area during Friday's match. In the first half, the Mavericks forced the issue with three corner kicks before the Vikings flipped the script in the second half and got four of their own. Each side had a half where they never had a corner kick. AU had the advantage in the end, 4-3, in corner kicks.
The third-seed Mavericks will take on the winner of today's second semifinal game, first-seed Bemidji State vs. fifth-seed Concordia-St. Paul, at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday at Chet Anderson Stadium in the NSIC Tournament Championship.
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