Bison Sports Update: August 28th (School Year Opener)

Welcome back Bison fans!! Its been a long summer without Bison athletics to cheer on and I am pleased to say that they are back in full force!

Women's Soccer
NDSU Women's Soccer has started their season just recently with a string of games against Tarleton, Southern, and Utah Tech. They hope to have a better year after an abysmal 3-12-1 showing last Fall. 
The Bison Women started the year in Louisiana facing off against Tarleton, whom they pulled a 1-1 draw, and then against the host: Southern University. They tied them as well, with a 0-0 draw. 
This past Saturday, NDSU traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota to play Utah Tech and found their first win of the season in a 2-0 victory.
This week, the Bison will continue their stay in the Twin Cities when they play Chicago State on Monday at 1:30 PM again at South Field on St. Thomas' campus. Then on Friday they will travel out to Laramie, Wyoming for a match against the Cowgirls before travelling south to Greeley, Colorado for a match against the UNC Bears.

North Dakota State Women's Soccer is 1-0-2 on the season.

Volleyball
NDSU Volleyball starting their season just this past week. The Bison are coming back this year after a 12-18 showing (6-12 conf.) and are hoping for a better year this year. This past week, NDSU traveled to Missouri for the SEMO Invitational. The Bison had a great week, winning all three matches; first against Jackson State, then the host Southeast Missouri State, and then Arkansas-Pine Bluff. 
This week the Bison will travel to LaFayette, Louisiana for the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic. They will begin on Friday at 9 AM against the host, Louisiana. Then they will play UTSA later that day at 4 PM, and then UTRGV on Saturday at 9 AM.

North Dakota State Volleyball is 3-0 on the season.

Football
NDSU Football has not started their season yet, but they will this week so here is a preview.
The Bison are returning this year off the back of another FCS National Title after a 14-1 season last year. They return most of the roster from last year apart from a few key players. Over the offseason, NDSU lost a number of players including: Christian Watson, Cordell Volson, Brayden Thomas, Jasir Cox, Quincy Patterson, and a few more. The first three now play in the NFL, Cox transferred to West Virginia, an FBS school. Patterson transferred to Temple, another FBS school.

NDSU will rely on their veterans and their depth this year to try and run for yet another title. Starting with the offense, the Bison will play QB Cam Miller for the first time as the day 1 starter. As mentioned above, last year's day 1 starter Quincy Patterson chose to transfer this past Spring after Cam Miller took over for the junior during NDSU's victory over Missouri State last October and never looked back. Redshirt Freshman Cole Payton will backup Miller. 
From the sounds of it, Senior TaMerik Williams or Kobe Johnson will start the season at running back for the Bison, although NDSU returns all of its half backs from last season. The Bison also return Senior fullback Hunter Luepke, who was the star of the show in the 2021 FCS Playoffs and championship game! The offensive line will be led by 5th year senior tackle Cody Mauch. The tight ends room will be led by 5th year senior Noah Gindorff. The wide receivers room will be quite different this year but definitely led by 5th year senior Phoenix Sproles. It will feature lots of new blood with multiple freshman joining NDSU's ranks.

The defense returns a lot of its depth from last year, save for the few players that transferred this offseason. Last year's stars will return including: Junior CB Courtney Eubanks, Senior S Dawson Weber, Senior CB Destin Talbert (who had the game saving INT against JMU), as well as Senior CB Jayden Price.

I expect NDSU to be quite good again this year. They also get to host both rivals in the Fargodome this year; SDSU will come to town on October 15th and UND will visit on November 19th. It should be a fun year, so be sure to come out to the Fargodome!

NDSU Football begins its season next Saturday, September 3rd against Drake at 2:30 PM.

​Go Bison!!