1.First, lets talk about how efficient the offense was. Keaton Studsrud went 22 for 31 with one end of the first half interception on a hail mary. The senior quarterback connected with six different receivers for 273 yards and two touchdowns. The offense employed a lot of different route combinations all day to keep Missouri State’s secondary off balance.

Players like Noah Wanzek exploited their size advantage over Missouri State to have a career high. The sophomore wideout was all over the field. He finished the day with career highs across the board. Wanzek generated 117 yards receiving.

Finally, for the Fighting Hawk offense, I was impressed to see the offensive line continue to gel. They allowed their top three running backs to all average four or more yards a carry. Brady Oliveira and John Santiago did an excellent job complimenting one another with the thunder and lightening routine. The tandem combined for 213 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries.

2. Eric Schmidt did another superb job organizing his defense.This defense limited a team that put up 43 points against a potent Mizzou offense. This is a defense that already is missing  one of the best defensive backs in FCS football in Deion Harris. It also lost its starting inside linebacker Donnell Rodgers to injury early on against the Bears.This Missouri State team only was able to muster 211 yards in 48 snaps against the Fighting Hawks,

Individually, Cole Reyes and Chuck Flowers lead the way for the Hawks’ secondary. Each had seven tackles, and Flowers caused a fumble on the one yard line that halted the Bears’ best chance at points.

Up front, defensive end Mason Bennett had a superb day. He had three tackles on the day. Two of them pushed the Bears back seven yards (2 TFL’s) and he also had a key sack. The entire defensive line did an excellent job rushing Bears QB Peyton Huslig and funneling the runs back towards the center of the field. The Bears finished with 79 net rushing yards on 25 carries.

Finally, because of the score, Eric Schmidt was able to work with his staff to rotate players in and out. This ensured a lot of those players not on the two-deep got key reps at the end of the game. This will benefit the Fighting Hawks later on in the season.

3. Special Teams was the only real mixed bag for the Fighting Hawks. I was glad to see Reid Taubenheim rebound to make his last two field goals of the game after missing a 25-yard attempt early on.

In addition, the punt and kick return teams had a mixed day. John Santiago had a big opening kickoff return that was called back due to a late flag. He also had a muffed punt that gave the Bears the ball back, however he did have a 35 yard return that changed field position.

The Fighting Hawks did cover kicks and punts well. Added up, look for special teams to have a big week next week. Special Teams Coach Sean Kostich is an expert at making adjustments and teaching the game. I fully expect special teams to get even better next week.

All things considered, that was the most complete game UND has played so far. While the Bears are not a Big Sky opponent, they presented a lot of wide open looks that UND will see again in the Big Sky. To come out and put up the all around effort that the Fighting Hawks did in front of a crowd of 12,047 at the Alerus Center was impressive.

Finally, this message is for UND Students. Well done, Nodak Nation gave out all of its student tickets, and all of you were involved throughout the game. Remember this in two weeks as Montana State will be another big test for the Fighting Hawks.

This weekend UND (2-3-1) took on Nebraska-Omaha and South Dakota at Bronson Field. Both games had some common elements. They were back-and-forth affairs that resulted in UND taking zero points on the weekend. There were some noticibale differences in Friday’s play vs. Sundays play.

Friday (0-0 draw against Nebraska Omaha) 

This was a rainy back-and-forth affair that featured some chances for both sides. During the first half, Omaha had the better of play and generated more chances than the Fighting Hawks.

During the second half and the two overtime periods, UND pushed the pace and its forwards generated multiple chances. No one could finish any of them, Omaha had more shots on goal during the game but UND held possession longer and pushed the pace of the game. Katie Moller and Riley Koberinski where all over the attacking third of the pitch and where the Fighting Hawks’ two best attackers on Friday.

Head Coach Chris Logan stressed the importance of finishing chances to capitalize on the strong defense played by his resilient side. He stressed the importance of being “a little bit more composed in the final third and certainly more composed in front of goal.”

Sunday (South Dakota 1 UND 0) 

Sunday brought a significant warm-up from friday, both in temperature and in offense for the Fighting Hawks.

However, like both the weather and the finial result from friday, the Hawks were left out in the cold thanks to an unlucky bounce off of a UND player about midway through the first half. The Hawks generated eleven shot attempts, but only four of them found their way to the net.

The shot total does not tell the whole story, as like Friday, UND turned South Dakota over and often could not generate a shot attempt on net as forwards did not end their runs with a shot attempt. The pace of the game was much more up-tempo as once again, Katie Moller and Riley Koberinski generated plenty of chances for UND to equalize the game.

UND has twelve days off before its next game on Friday, September 15 against South Dakota State at Bronson Field. Kickoff is set for 3:00 PM

On August 12, The University of North Dakota opened its first campaign under new coach Chris Logan with a 1-0 exhibition win against the Jamestown Jimmies. The game was played in three 30 minute periods as opposed to two 45 minute halves.

Throughout the match UND controlled the pace of play. The Fighting Hawks generated 38 total shots with 14 of those getting on net. UND controlled play throughout the game thanks to the speed of its forwards and ability to maintain possession in the offensive end.

The lone goal of the contest came a mere 14 seconds into the third period. Katie Moller got the ball close to the 18-yard box and made a wide-open pass to forward Mimi Eiden who made no mistake with her chance. She capitalized on a wide open net to give UND the lead for the rest of the match. The Hawks attacked more as the game went on, in the first two periods they generated 15 shots combined. In the last period, UND generated 23 shots on Jamestown goalie Juliet Ramirez. She played a superb 30 minutes of soccer as she had to make nine saves on the ten UND chances that went on target.

UND will faceoff against Bemidji State on tuesday night in its exhibition finale at 6 PM at Bronson Field.

Here are some thoughts on the game from my post game interview with Head Coach Chris Logan, as well as things that UND could improve on.

“Overall we were edgy, I think that we were certainly afraid to make some mistakes and there was a lot of anxiety in the team today. I Think It was that very first game of the season where you have to get that anxiety out of your system. As the game went on I felt as though we started to settle down and get into a little bit more of a groove. I think certainly with the new style of play its certainly a work in progress. Good thing, was we created a lot of chances , that was nice. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a game where we created that many chances and only scored one goal, so that was a positive. We’ve certainly got some building to do still.”

Hello everyone, I figured I would write this article to let everyone know that we will be getting back to a normal writing schedule here with school and sports starting back up. In addition, we will be posting our NHL-focused Hockey articles on Hockey Extra from now on.

We are doing this this way for one simple reason. This blog will focus more exclusively on all things UND, everything from Basketball to Soccer. In addition we will post articles featuring college hockey interviews from different players, as well as international hockey updates that do not have an NHL focus. We have been around for over a year and received a lot of support. To all of our readers, thank you, and look for some great things this year!

With the recent cut of the Women’s Hockey program at the University of North Dakota, a lot of people have been affected. Countless current players and alums from all around the world have had their school choose to discontinue their sport for financial reasons. Coaches, support staff, fans, and those in the community have lost a team that provided so much. People are out of jobs, fans can’t go see the next generation of women’s hockey stars in Grand Forks, the players affected will have to go to an even smaller number of schools. Also, many local schools and non-profits will lose out on thousands of hours of time being spent with outstanding role models both in their sport and in life.

This article is not about all of the back story or the drama of the cuts or how they were implemented, however, this is about how the Women’s Hockey program opened my eyes to another side of working in sports I never thought possible, and without it , I would not have helped co-found this blog. This article is a small thanks to all the people whom I met as a student and remain connected with now because of Women’s Hockey.

During my first year at UND, I wanted to help out with a sports team in some way. After seeing the opportunities available I contacted the team and learned how to shoot video. Nearly every Friday and Saturday home game, I had behind the scenes access to sit in the press box of the Ralph Englestad Arena, which is absolutely stunning. I always got to my post early to set up. It was great to see UND hockey from that angle and feel like I was a part of something bigger than myself.

In the following years I met a lot of great people as I worked as a volunteer for the athletics department editing highlights. I wanted to do that because telling a story about UND athletics and its world-class athletes was and will always be fun. Being able to edit games and pick out key moments for the rest of the world to see has always been fun for me. Working as a volunteer for UND athletics, specifically editing videos for Women’s Hockey games got me started in the sport and communications industry which I am proud to always be a part of.

I wish the best of luck to all those affected by this terrible tragedy and wanted to thank everyone with UND Athletics for letting me volunteer as a student, and inspiring a desire to always be in sports and communications at the same time.