The University of Minnesota Duluth looked content to put the non-conference portion of its schedule behind it as the team opened the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference season with a shutout victory last Sunday at Malosky Stadium. The Bulldogs will now have four straight on the road as they look to continue that momentum.

UMD (1-3-0, 0-1-0 NSIC) will kick off the weekend Saturday afternoon at Minnesota State University-Moorhead before traveling across the South Dakota border to face the Northern State University Wolves in Aberdeen. The Bulldogs picked up a pair of wins at home against the two teams last season.

QUICK KICKS
• Senior forward Maureen Stormont unsurprisingly broke through last weekend, scoring three of UMD's four goals, including two and the game-winner in UMD's NSIC opener against St. Cloud State.  She led the Bulldog offense with 14 shots, including 10 on-goal in two matches.
• Senior defender Riley Allen led the UMD defense that allowed just 10 of 22 shots faced to be directed on-net in a pair of matches, including just four of 13 against St. Cloud State on Sunday afternoon.  In addition, she netted her first goal of the season, heading a Hannah Keil (Sr./M) corner kick to the high left corner of the net. Senior goalkeeper Marissa Rosa stopped all four shots on net that she faced against the Huskies in her lone start, collecting her first shutout of the season.
• UMD celebrated its 20th anniversary of soccer on the weekend with alumnae and head coach Greg Cane celebrated at halftime. Cane has been with the Bulldogs for each year of the program.

"Good stories, good memories," Cane said on reflecting on 20 seasons. "Retracing the steps [and] imparting that on the team. The players engaging with alumnae was positive. They recognized what has gone into 20 years, and taking that in a prideful way, combining that with wanting to get off on the right foot in conference play, I think we saw a team that showed potential of what they can do. It was a pretty impressive first half, for sure."

The Bulldogs played just one home match and will now hit the road for the balance of September. "We knew from the beginning it was an uphill battle," said Cane on the early tests. "Now, we go back on the road and play at some difficult places. Moorhead and Northern can [both have] difficult field conditions if the weather's not good. They are unfriendly places to play in the first place, as their teams play really well at home. Of course, then we have a second week where we go on the road again for a couple of perenniel top-eight teams there. We knew what we were up against. If we were going to do well this year, we would earn it. Maybe that's the revelation from this weekend, that the players finally realized that they just needed to perform when it matters."
  • Northern State (2-2-0, 1-0-0 NSIC) opened the conference-shedule with a win over MSU-Moorhead. The team had been previously defeated 3-1 by NCAA I South Dakota State University last Thursday.
• Sophomore midfielder Anna Bond has already earned eight points via three goals and two assists on the young season, leading the Wolves' offense. Junior forward Allie McDonald has just one goal, but 12 shots on the young season.
• Junior goalkeeper Brittany Tietz has allowed six goals while playing every minute in net for the Wolves. She has a 1.50 GAA and 22 saves and has earned one shutout.
• The Bulldogs are 12-1-1 all-time against the Wolves, including a 2-1 victory last season at Malosky Stadium on Oct. 27, 2013.

BULLDOG BYTE
"She has started every game so far because she's earned it, and showed her quality. She's obviously a threat ... We know there's some things that she does really well and want to try and expand that into our attack. I think you're going to see her on our score sheet on a regular basis." - Coach Greg Cane, on junior forward Sheridan Reiners' early impact in her first season with at UMD