D2 Soccer: Mavericks Draw Home Opener

Last week our writer SteveTaylor watched the Gopher Soccer dominate their home opener. Living outside of the Metro, I decided to head up the hill and take in the action of my local college, Minnesota State University-Mankato, as they took on Northern Iowa in their home opener.

The Mavericks of Minnesota State, who are ranked #1 in the NSIC Preseason poll and #19 in the Nation for Division 2, are coming off a season in 2016 where they won the NSIC Tournament. They opened their season with an exhibition match with the Panthers of UNI, a Division 1 school ranked middle of the pack in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Panthers were coming off a 1-0 win against conference foe Western Illinois in an exhibition game.

Opening the first half the Mavericks started fast and furious controlling the first five minutes of play and with Kaitlin Foley getting the Mavs first shot under two minutes into the game.

The Mavericks won the first corner of the game in the 8th minute with Forward Morgan Cottew playing the ball to Midfielder Maddy Burandt who had the ball blocked away by UNI’s keeper Jami Reichenberger. Less than two minutes later Northern Iowa came down and scored when Brynell Yount popped one over the head of MSU Goalkeeper Ryann Rydeen to make it 1-0 Panthers.

Over the next 15 minutes UNI dominated possession and the game fairly well, but Minnesota State caught a break as in the 22nd Minute as Julia Zach knocked one in against the run of play to tie the game at 1.

Minnesota State would take the lead when Forward Lauren Kizlik buried a shot from 35 yards out to give the Mavericks a 2-1 lead heading into halftime.

The second half started out splitting possession in the first 20 minutes and both teams getting a plethora of chances but not able to convert.

In the 61st minute UNI Panther #25 Jenny Wick went down hard playing a ball but was able to get up and off the field and looked to be okay.

After a hard tackle, Maverick Defender Lexi Pszanka put a shot just wide of the goal trying to take extend the MSU lead to 2.

After a fairly even 10 minutes of play marked by a lot of midfield play on the ball, UNI’s Jordyn Rolli would tie the game at 2-2 in the 76th minute.

The Panthers took total control for most of the final 15 minutes, including a huge break that was only stopped when MSU keeper Taylor Livermore stopped a breakaway opportunity at the top of the box.

After a tough-fought 90 minutes of play, the teams took a 2-2 draw, though the teams participated in a penalty shootout afterward.

With all 5 players being allowed to take the shots, UNI would take the Shootout 5-1 with Morgan Cottew scoring the lone penalty for the Mavericks.

After the match the ladies were greeted with great applause from the crowd on hand at The Pitch on the MSU-Mankato campus.

Minnesota State has their Alumni Game on Saturday, August 19 at 5 PM at The Pitch, their next exhibition game will have them host St. Catherine’s University on Wednesday, August 23rd in Mankato. Mavericks soccer season passes are available for $40, or $50 including a Maverick Soccer scarf.

Starting next week, we will have a weekly roundup on local College Soccer that will cover the NSIC in D2 and the MIAC and UMAC in D3.