Box score

GRAND FORKS, ND—North Dakota scored once in each half, including a goal 81 seconds in, on the way to a 2-0 win over visiting NJIT Thursday afternoon in Great West Conference women's soccer.
 
The shutout win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Fighting Sioux, who preceded the skid with a four-game unbeaten run (2-0-2). North Dakota is now 2-3-2 in the Great West and 5-8-3 overall, while NJIT falls to 1-4 in conference play and 2-15 overall.
 
Sophomore Amanda Dahl assisted on both UND goals, which came at 1:21 and 52:45 and were scored by seniors Rachael Loomis and Veronika Zischka, respectively. For Loomis, the goal was her seventh of the season, whole Zischka, a defender, tallied her second goal of the year. Dahl has three assists on the season.
 
The game featured high shot totals, with the Fighting Sioux showing a 23-15 advantage in total shots and a 10-8 lead in shots on goal. The winners had a 6-4 edge in corners.
 
North Dakota's freshman goalkeeper Kristi Hestdalen earned the clean sheet with seven saves (there was also a team save credited to the Fighting Sioux). She has three shutouts. NJIT's sophomore keeper Anna Kornmuller made eight stops.
 
Loomis' goal in the second minute came on the first shot of the game for either team and the score stayed at 1-0 for the home team, although the Fighting Sioux had seven shots to one for NJIT, plus two corners from the 22nd minute through the 35th minute.
 
“You don't want to be chasing the game for 88-and-a-half minutes, but that's what we had to do today,” said NJIT coach Sergio Gonzalez.
 
Leading by the one goal at the start of the second half, North Dakota added insurance in the 53rd minute when Zischka connected for her team's second goal.
 
The score came seconds after a shot from NJIT's Amanda Redden went high in a several-minute push in the early part of the half that saw the North Dakota defense save a shot from Megan Dellavalle. The shot was ticketed for the goal, but a defender was able to slide and clear it to concede a corner kick to the Highlanders.
 
“They outshot us, but we had the most dangerous chances,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of their shots were from distance and we were creating chances, but we still have to work on the finishing part. We weren't sharp on that final ball.”
 
Gonzalez saw a good news-bad news side to his team's recent play. “I'm happy we're creating chances, especially with the tournament coming up,” he said. “But I'm obviously not happy with our lack of finishing. Earlier in the year, we weren't getting the opportunities. Now, we are, but we have to do more with them.”
 
NJIT will finish off its Western swing and the regular season on Saturday afternoon at 1 o'clock (Central) when the Highlanders visit Houston Baptist in another Great West Conference contest.
 
After that, NJIT will host the Great West postseason tournament, which includes all seven conference teams, beginning on November 4 on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium on campus.