Beaver Soccer travels to Duluth looking to clinch birth into NSIC Tournament

BSU Women’s Soccer ends regular season at Minnesota Duluth

The Bemidji State University Women’s Soccer team ends its 2024 regular season Thursday, Nov. 7 and travels to University of Minnesota Duluth for a clash with the Bulldogs. The Beavers travel east looking to clinch a spot in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament with a victory or draw with the Bulldogs.

The Beavers enter the final weekend of the regular season seventh in the NSIC standings with 21 league points and a 6-4-3 record in league play. BSU is tied for seventh with Northern State University with the top eight teams in the standings earning a spot in the conference tournament. The Beavers are three points back of fifth and sixth place Minot State University and University of Mary and aim to improve their playoff seeding Thursday.

Seeds 1-4 in the standings will host seeds 5-8 in the first match of the tournament with the highest remaining seeds advancing to the semifinal and championship match hosted by the highest remaining seed.

Bemidji State will clinch a spot in the NSIC Tournament with a draw or better at Minnesota Duluth or if Wayne State College loses or draws against Winona State University. If the Beavers lose and the Wildcats defeat the Warriors, BSU will fail to make the tournament for the first time since 2008.

The Beavers are 9-16-5 all-time against the Bulldogs but are 6-0-2 over the last eight games including a five-matching winning streak dating back to 2018.

Minnesota Duluth is out of playoff contention and are 11th in the NSIC standings with nine points. It is 2-11-3 on the season and 2-8-3 in league play. The Bulldogs are coming off a one-match weekend falling to Winona State 1-0 in Duluth on Sunday.

The Bulldogs have allowed 31 goals this season, the fourth most in the NSIC while their 13 goals scored ranks 10th in the conference. UMD is led by senior forward Anna Tobias who has scored four goals and added two assists in 16 matches.

Bemidji State is led by junior forward Katrina Barthelt who has scored the most goals in the NSIC with nine. She has added two assists for 20 points. She is three goals shy of tying a career-high set in 2023 and is tied for ninth in program history with 23 career goals.

She is followed by freshman Madisen Fritel who has six points off two goals and two assists while Emma Huelsnitz, Grace Schwoch and Madeline Davey have each scored two goals as well. 12 different Beavers have scored a goal this season.

Huelsnitz and freshman Maggie Kramer solidify the Beavers’ defense with each totaling over 1,300 minutes played and have started all 17 matches. Huelsnitz leads the team with 1,366 minutes played or 89-percent of the team’s total minutes while Kramer follows closely with 1,357. Kramer leads the team with three assists from the backline.

Graduate Sonia Alfieri has started 16 of the team’s 17 matches in goal this season. She has posted an 8-6-3 record making 68 saves. She is sixth in the NSIC with a 0.938 goals against average and seventh in save percentage (.819).