In the first game of a critical weekend of conference play for the University of Minnesota Duluth soccer team, the Bulldogs picked up three points Friday night at James S. Malosky Stadium with a 2-1 win over Southwest Minnesota State University.

Led by two goals from senior striker Jackie Jares, the win pushes UMD into sixth place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and just a single point shy of fifth place.

The Bulldogs point leader heading into Friday's match, Jares, added to her goal total midway through the first half. The senior forward took a pass from Miriam Marsan and outran a Mustang defender up the right side of the box. Jares kept the defender behind her and slotted the ball through at 23:37 of the first half to give UMD a 1-0 lead.

Less than seven minutes later, Jares struck again on a UMD corner kick served by Lauren Hansen. Jares beat a SMSU player to the ball on the near post, and knocked the ball in for her team-leading seventh goal of the season and second of the game at 30:07.

The Mustangs lone goal of the game came late in the contest, a penalty kick at 82:52 from Selena Prolic to draw SMSU within one. But UMD held on to its 2-1 lead to improve to 5-5-5 on the season and 4-3-4 in NSIC play.

The Bulldogs outshot the Mustangs 20-9 in the game, and put nine of them on goal to SMSU's five. UMD senior goaltender Jenny Norris had four saves to her credit, while Rachel Hicks had seven for the Mustangs, who were held without a corner kick for 90 minutes, while the Bulldogs racked up a total of six.

UMD will return to the pitch of Griggs Field on Sunday to host the University of Sioux Falls on Senior Day. The game is set to get underway at 1:00 p.m.