Maxwell Field hosted the home opening weekend for women’s soccer, as Winona State University hosted a pair of teams from North Dakota as Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play began to heat up. Entering the contest, they finished a trip to Jamestown and Aberdeen for the first conference matches of the season. The Warriors concluded with a 4-0 victory over Jamestown and a 1-1 tie against Northern State. Their first match took place on Friday Sept. 26 against University of Mary.
Abigail Rounds, goalkeeper for the Warriors, talked about the pre-season training from Head Coach Delaney Marier.
“Each training session has been very intentional with how the team is progressing. She really cares about all the girls on the team and wants to see us all succeed.”
UMary Recap:
The Warriors, fresh off a dominating 4-0 match against the Jamestown Jimmies, started the contest without a loss on the season. The first official match at Maxwell Field for the 2025 season. Both teams had a controlled pace in the first half of the match, exchanging pairs of shots throughout the first thirty minutes. Johanna Schubert and Madisson Watts started the contest off to a shot in the second minute. Mary responded with pair of attempts by MaLiah Burke and Rachel Gensch. Madison Barnick missed it wide left late in the seventh minute. Winona State continued to build upon their position with another attempt through Quinn Williams. Both sides kept trying to break through the defensive sets, but no one connected. Rounds earned a save in the thirty-seventh minute, and the half concluded with a score of 0-0.
Branick talked about the game plan to take the team on Friday.
“A point of emphasis for the matchup against UMary was to be the first to everything
Whether that was a corner kick, foul, shot, etc.” Barnick said, “For both games it was important for us to be confident and take the opportunities presented to us.”
The second half was more of the same, with both teams trying to generate shots. The Warriors attempted three corner kicks and two shots between the fiftieth through sixtieth minutes. Mary responded with attempts by Olivia Gardner and Theresa English, but nothing would connect for the rest of the half. By the final tick, Winona State end the match with a draw against the Marauders in a 0-0 contest. Round finished with two saves and no goals allowed in the match.
Minot Recap:
After the draw against Mary, Winona State intends to begin the contest hot against Minot State University on Sunday, Oct. 26th. For second home match of the weekend, the Warriors struggled to get going on offensive end. The Beavers, on the other hand, started off with a blazing start. After a Barnick shot, Giselle Nash sunk a goal in the fourth minute, with Anna Miotto picking up an assist. Emerie Campbell kept the momentum going with another goal shortly after a corner kick by the Warriors. The Beavers started to cool off for a little bit, trading possessions with Winona State until the nineteenth minute. Brittney Egbert drilled another score for Minot, which helped give them a big cushion for the half. The Warriors in a 3-0 hole by half for the first time this season.
Schubert discussed the emphasis during the weekend.
“The main takeaway from these two matches this weekend for me was consistency and it is more than just a game. We had great moments in each game where we got chances on goal, built out from the back line, and more like we worked on”
Winona State controlled the ball for the first ten minutes of the second half, getting a pair of shots from Reece Trebilcock and Annie Clemmons. Yet the momentum just would not swing in the Warriors favor, as Miotto scored yet another point for the Beavers in the fifty-seventh minute. Olivia Cyr goal would put the Warriors on the board in seventy-eighth minute, but it was too late. Winona State would go on to drop the match 4-1 against the Minot State Beavers, the first loss of the season for the soccer team.
Rounds talked about moving forward after their first home matches.
“I know everyone’s going to be giving 110% at training this week because we all are hungry for some more wins in conference.”
The Warriors will travel to Sioux Falls to take on Augustana on Friday, Oct. 3rd. Then head to Wayne to face the Wildcats on Sunday, Oct. 5.
