MANKATO, Minn. – The No. 2 Minnesota State women's soccer team has advanced to the NSIC Championship and will face Bemidji State to determine a conference champion on Sunday at 1 p.m. at The Pitch.

The Mavericks are 16-1-3 this season and 12-1-2 in the NSIC. They opened the NSIC Tournament with a dominant 3-0 win over St. Cloud State as Lauren McAlpine made 11 saves in the shutout. In the semifinals the Mavericks outlasted Northern State in a wild game that went all the way to an electric 13 round shootout.

Against Northern State, Amara Smith opened the scoring just four minutes in, scoring for a ninth consecutive game. The Wolves would tie and before Maddix Archer would score to give MSU a 2-1 lead heading into halftime. Smith would score again on a PK a few minutes into the second half for the 3-1 lead, before Northern State would dominate the remainder of the half and score twice to send the game to overtime.

Both overtime periods would go without a golden goal which led to the shootout. After being stopped on their first three attempts, the Mavericks would make nine of their last 10 attempts while the Wolves answered blow for blow before sending their last shot wide of the net.

Scouting Bemidji State:

The Beavers are 10-4-6 this season and 7-3-5 in the NSIC. In the NSIC Tournament they upset the two seeded UMary 2-1, scoring twice in the second half, advancing to the semifinals to face Minnesota Duluth. It took just one goal for them to clinch a spot in the championship game as Julia Lewis scored in the 42nd minute, while Payton Kropp made five saves in the shutout.

On the season Madisen Fritel leads the team in goals with five and points with 12 while Megan Ko and Sydney Sutherland both have three assists to come second and third on the team in points. The Beavers have eight players who have scored at least twice this season to form a balanced attack.

Kropp has started a majority of their games in net and she has been rock solid. In 12 starts she has allowed only 10 goals while posting four shutouts and a 6-2-4 record. She owns a 0.87 GAA and a .836 save percentage to backbone the defensive unit.

Earlier this Season:

The Mavericks and Beavers played in early October in Bemidji, with the Mavericks coming away with a 1-0 win in a tightly contested game. Archer scored the lone goal of the game in the 50th minute while McAlpine made two saves for a shutout during her extended shutout streak. Kropp started in net for the Beavers and made four saves while Fritel and Sutherland each had one shot on net.

All-Time Series vs. the Beavers:

The Mavericks have the advantage in the all-time series holding a 17-4-5 record. They are 9-1-3 at home and 5-2-3 in the last ten matchups. Last season, the teams played to a 2-2 tie at The Pitch.  Across the all-time series, the Mavericks have scored 79 goals, averaging 3.04 a match.