The SDSU Jackrabbits soccer team’s season came to a screeching halt Friday with a deflating 1-0 defeat to the hometown Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a semi-final game of the Summit League Tournament in Rochester, Mich. The loss breaks the Jacks’ streak of 10 consecutive non-losing performances and denies them the opportunity to go the NCAA tournament.

The Golden Grizzlies set the pace early in the first half by grabbing the lead in the sixth minute with a goal from Meghan Reynolds, which was off a through-pass into the box from Shannon Doyle. The goal was just the second allowed by First Team All-Summit League goal tender Kat Donavan and the Jacks in their last nine matches, and it would prove to be the deciding point of the game and season for SDSU.

The Golden Grizzlies, a perennial Summit League soccer power, handed the Jacks (12-6-2, 8-0-1 Summit) one of their only blemishes on an otherwise fantastic league record with the loss on Friday and a 0-0 double-overtime tie on Oct. 14.

The Jacks were able to slow the Grizzlies aggressive pace in the second half, but they could not take advantage of their defensive effort. Even though the Jacks had a couple of potential scoring opportunities, they were unable to overcome the Golden Grizzlies’ counterattacks.

Summit League Offensive Player of the Year Kayla Braffet had a golden opportunity to even up the contest late in the game when the ball was loose in the box on a set play. However, an erratic bounce caused Braffet’s shot to sail over the net – ending any hope of a comeback for the Jacks.

“It was a combination of several things, execution and poor luck among them, that led to the outcome,” said Head Coach Lang Wedemeyer.

In the end, the Jacks were just unable to break the Oakland defense. The Golden Grizzlies dominated the Jacks for much of the game — outshooting them 15-8, including four shots on goal to the Jacks’ two.

The Jacks came into the game missing seven players due to suspension, but Coach Wedemeyer insisted on not making any excuses for the team’s play.

“Certainly not having a full roster didn’t help us, but we weren’t going to make any excuses. We fielded a team that was perfectly capable of winning,” said Wedemeyer.

Friday’s game marked the final game for a strong senior class that helped elevate the Jackrabbit soccer program to new heights. The group of seniors, including All-Summit League performers Braffett, Cori Bonte, Donavan, Kelli Herman and Kelsey Ferguson, was the first class in SDSU history to be a part of four teams to qualify for the Summit League Tournament — a group that also shared in earning three regular season League titles and a Tournament title in 2008.

Coach Wedemeyer expressed his admiration for the seniors, not only for their performance on the field, but for their performance in the classroom and community as well.

At the start of the 2011 season, Kat Donovan had something to prove. Needless to say, she’s done that.

In two short seasons, she’s gone from junior college to becoming arguably the best goaltender in the Summit League. Donovan will be between the posts this weekend for the Jacks when they take on Oakland in the semifinals of the four-team Summit League Tournament.

After seeing 30 minutes of time in one match last season behind starter Elisa Stamatakis, Donovan took over the position when Stamatakis was injured in the spring. The move allowed Donovan to have the majority of the reps against difficult competition during the spring schedule and was named the starting goaltender at the beginning of the fall season.

“Being positive is really just the big thing for me. Especially last year when I wasn’t seeing the minutes that I obviously wanted. I had to remember ‘team-first, stay positive and things will get better,” Donovan said. “It was hard because I wanted to play but she’s [Stamatakis] a great girl and I love her to pieces, so really it was hard because she worked hard and I had to accept my role, keep working and wait for my chance.”

“To be honest, she kind of received the position by default. We had planned Elisa being the starter after how well she had played last season and she got a little bit of an injury at the end of the season and had a hard time coming back and Kat really seized the opportunity,” head coach Lang Wedemeyer said.

She’s done that. Donovan has 12 wins, 11 of them shutouts and has tallied 67 saves on the season. Her most impressive stat is that she was instrumental in the 832-minute scoreless streak which was finally broken against NDSU last weekend. The mark is the 12th longest streak in NCAA history, one which Donovan credited to having “a great defensive line that made me look really good.”

“I think having her on the back line is an honor because she wants it as bad as anyone and in her two seasons, she’s improved a lot. She’s earned everyone’s respect and I’m so proud of her,” defender Kelli Herman said.

The state of Washington isn’t prime recruiting ground for the SDSU soccer team. In fact, Donovan is the first player in the 11-year history of the program to come from the Evergreen State.

Donovan found her way to SDSU in the most interesting of routes. A native of Redmond, Wash., she spent two years at Shoreline Community College outside Seattle, where she played goaltender for the Dolphins and recorded 14 shutouts in two seasons. One of the coaches that Shoreline commonly plays first contacted SDSU assistant Brock Thompson about Donovan.

“They said there’s a goaltender there who’s decent and my coach called me and said there’s someone that wants to talk to you from South Dakota and I said, ‘South Dakota? What? Like in the middle of country?’ I started looking at SDSU and I was looking at Eastern Washington and I was torn between the two and I got here and I loved it and it felt right.”

“At our level of women’s soccer, you don’t see a tremendous amount of junior college players come through and make a huge impact and it’s not the same as basketball or football,” Wedemeyer said.

Donovan has become popular amongst her teammates for both her fun-loving attitude and desire to win.

“Kat communicates very well and I think that helps our back line,” Herman said. “She’s definitely a character and once you get to know her and her personality, the comments she makes and her outgoing attitude makes her a great teammate.”

“She really started to rise and her confidence started to grow. She’s always someone who’s trying to better herself,” Wedemeyer said.

Now with a trip to the NCAA tournament in the balance, SDSU will have to cross the final hurdles that have tripped the Jacks in the past.

“I think just because of the success we’ve had [this season], we’re going to have that confidence but we know that we can’t underestimate our opponents because they will all be great teams,” Donovan said. “We’ll have to leave it all on the field and all that matters is right now.”

The SDSU soccer team has reached the peak.

With their 3-1 win over rival NDSU Saturday night, the Jacks claimed the Summit League regular season championship. The Jackrabbits finished the season 12-5-2 overall and 8-0-1 in league play and secured the No. 1 seed in the four-team Summit League tournament set to begin on Friday in Rochester, Mich.

SDSU’s Christa Nyblom battles an NDSU defender during the Jacks’ 3-1 victory over the Bison on Oct. 29 at Fishback Park. (Collegian photo by Corey Morrow)

The game’s first half was a physical, defensive struggle with the Jackrabbits managing just one shot for the entire half to eight with five on goal for the Bison (14-3-2, 7-1-1). However, the Jacks took full advantage of that one shot as senior Kelsey Ferguson netted the goal in the 21st minute after Megan Kingston split two defenders and hooked up with an unmarked Ferguson on a cross pass to put the Jacks up 1-0.

“They put a lot of pressure on us and it took us a little bit of time to get adjusted to that through the first half,” head coach Lang Wedemeyer said. “I felt we played better soccer in the second [half] and created some dangerous scoring chances.”

The offense would indeed open up significantly in the second half for the Jacks; launching 12 shots with four on goal. Ferguson would cap a fantastic night with her second goal of the game in the 48th minute following assists from Kingston and Darci Miller to increase the lead to 2-0. The Jacks would gut it out for the next 14 minutes before NDSU’s Anisha Kinnarath cut the deficit in half in the 62nd minute with an unassisted goal following a free kick. The goal snapped SDSU’s streak of eight consecutive games without allowing a goal. The goal also ended senior goalkeeper Kat Donavan’s 823 minute, 23 second shutout minutes streak, which was the 12th longest in NCAA history.

The Jacks would not be deterred by the Bison goal, coming back in the 76th minute with a goal from junior Christa Nyblom who chipped the ball over the NDSU goaltender’s head in the far corner of the net following a cross pass from Abby Jurgens, who received the ball on a deep pass from Stephanie Peterson, to put the game away for the Jacks.

“There was just a lot of determination,” Nyblom said. “There was energy from the beginning of the game, right off the bat, even in the locker room and in this week in general.”

Ferguson, one of 12 seniors being honored at Senior Night, believed that her and her team members had a higher level of commitment to each other than in the past.

“We just believed in each other on a different level, you could see it …. you could feel it,” Ferguson said.

SDSU is the No. 1 seed heading into the Summit League tournament where they will face fourth-seeded Oakland on the Golden Grizzlies’ home field. The two teams fought to a grueling scoreless tie in Brookings back on October 14th. If the Jacks win Friday night, they’ll play the winner of the NDSU/UMKC match for the post-season Summit crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on Sunday at noon.

SDSU’s Kayla Braffet battles with an Oral Roberts defender in a Sept. 30 victory over the Golden Eagles. (Collegian photo by Aaron Stoneberger)

After a pair of road wins, SDSU will play for the regular season championship against NDSU.

The SDSU women’s soccer team continued their undefeated conference play with wins against USD and the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

The Jacks have one more regular season game against NDSU with both teams being 7-0-1. The match will determine who gets the number one seed for the conference tournament.

Goalkeeper Kat Donovan recorded two shutouts this weekend, number 10 and 11 on the year, and bringing the team’s no-goals-allowed streak to 769 minutes, 740 of which coming in conference play. For Donovan’s weekend effort, she earned her second Summit League defensive player of the week honors.

SDSU cam out kicking early Friday evening against USD, recording two shots on goal within the first four minutes of the match. In the seventeenth minute midfielder Christa Nyblom struck first for the Jacks with an assist from forward Kayla Braffet to put the Jacks ahead 1-0. Braffet is now tied for the lead in all-time assists at SDSU with eighteen.

The Jacks maintained their attack in the second half, forcing the Coyotes to make two saves early on. Then in the 68th minute midfielder Abby Jurgens gave SDSU an insurance goal and put the Jacks up for good.

“I give credit to USD for playing a good, hard fought game,” head Coach Lang Wedemeyer said. “We were pretty dynamic in our attack, but a bit unfocused today. Having said that it is great we are finding ways to get important results in conference play.”

Sunday was a little bit of a different story as it took the Jacks until the 85th minute to get the ball in the net, but finally beating UMKC 1-0.
Braffet hadn’t scored since the conference opener on September 30th, but that changed when she received an assist from fellow senior forward Kelsey Ferguson and planted in the back of the net.

The Jacks held a statistical advantage on the attack once again as they out-shot UMKC 10-1 in shots on goal.

Kat Donovan had to make one save as she earned her eleventh shutout of the season, setting a SDSU and Summit League single-season record.

“We played a very good game today against a tough UMKC team. I was proud of the girls for gaining our rhythm back in the second half and for their perseverance today. It sets up a pretty exciting matchup next Saturday.” Wedemeyer said.

Long-time rival NDSU will visit Fishback Soccer Park Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. for the regular season Summit League title and top seed in the conference tournament.

Kayla Braffet finds herself in the middle of Oakland defenders Erin Ring (left) and Amy Trandell (right) during the Jacks’ scoreless tie on Oct. 14.(Collegian photo by Aaron Stoneberger)

Creating offensive chances wasn’t an issue but the Jacks failed to find the netting.

Finishing scoring chances has been an issue for the SDSU soccer team all season. Last Friday wasn’t any different as the Jacks tied 0-0 with Oakland after two overtime periods.

“We played fairly well for most of the game, it was a little bit of chess match because they were playing with five defenders and really trying to stagnate our attack and for a good portion of the game it worked,” head coach Lang Wedemeyer said.

Even with Oakland using a minimum of five defenders at all times, SDSU had plenty of chances, firing 17 shots. SDSU’s defense had another solid game as they didn’t allow any of Oakland’s five shots to be on goal, making the match relatively easy for senior goalkeeper Kat Donovan.

SDSU’s closest chances to score came when they had two shots bounce off the crossbar. One occurred in the 84th minute when senior Kayla Braffet booted a shot from just outside the box. The ball looked good to put the Jacks ahead but bounced off the crossbar and dropped straight down before being cleared by an Oakland defender. The other near-miss attempt came in the second overtime as sophomore Caylee Costello had her shot attempt hit the crossbar and bounce away harmlessly.

Seniors Kelsey Ferguson and Braffet led the Jacks’ attack with four shots each and Christa Nyblom took three shots, all of which were on goal.

“We created plenty of opportunities to score a few goals, but it was the same story as the rest of the season; a little unlucky or a good goalkeeping save or just missing an opportunity. Oakland is a good team, but we are a bit disappointed with the tie,” Wedemeyer said.

The only yellow card issued was given in the sixth minute to Oakland’s head coach Nick O’Shea after an exchange with the referee.

Like the Tom Petty song says, “waiting is the hardest part” for the Jackrabbits soc­cer team.

After getting bounced from the Summit League Tourna­ment on their home field for the second-straight year and with last season ending in the semifinals at the hands of rival North Dakota State, SDSU is preparing to get over the hump in 2011 with veteran leadership at each of the four regions of the field.

The 2010 season was book­ended by home losses – a home loss to Drake opened the year and the season-ender to NDSU in the Sum­mit League Tournament. In between, the Jacks were 11-1-5 and created an elec­tric attack on the pitch. That attack was led by Sum­mit League Offensive Player of the Year Danni Healy and Kaitlin Justice, both of whom have graduated.

SDSU scored three or more goals in six matches last year and went 6-0 in those sce­narios.

“We’ve had players this spring who’ve demonstrated that we can be very lethal on the attack for us this fall,” said head soccer coach Lang Wedemeyer, the only head coach in program history.

The Jacks bring back a solid defensive line, led by Steph Peterson and Stéphanie Bérubé, and hope to repeat last year’s defensive effort. Emily Quigley and Court­ney Higgins will round out the defense that led the Summit League in the goals against average, allowing just under one goal per game.

“We’ll be looking for some real consistency game in and game out because we had some tremendous defen­sive games last year, and we had some where we gave up multiple goals,” Wedemeyer said. “We want to shore up our defense with better coordination between those four players.”

The midfield will also be strong for the Jackrabbits, as Cori Bonte and Christa Nyblom figure to lead the squad’s core. SDSU will look to complete their middle as Darci Miller and Danielle Neuhalfen will battle for a starting spot.

“Cori (Bonte) is very tough and has taken to that role very well and Christa (Nyb­lom) is a creative midfielder and both will be able to lead us at the midfield position,” Wedemeyer said.

SDSU will leave the attack­ing responsibilities in the capable hands of Kayla Braf­fet, Kelsey Ferguson and Courtney Higgins. The trio combined for 26 points last season, with Ferguson doing most of her damage off the bench.

While Elisa Stamatakis was steadfast for the Jackrab­bits in her freshman season, with 11 wins and eight shut­outs, she was injured during the spring and was unable to train during the offsea­son. Wedemeyer expects her to be ready when the season begins Aug. 12 with an exhi­bition against Nebraska at Fishback Soccer Park.

“It was a bit unnerving but she had a great fall and we hope that she gets healthy and gets back on the field for us soon,” Wedemeyer said.

The season officially opens with a pair of College Cup qualifiers, first at home on Aug. 19 when SDSU hosts Creighton, before heading to Minnesota two days later on Aug. 21.

“We’re returning a lot of starters and we’ll have a lot of experience on the field for us,” Wedemeyer said. “We’ve got a good mix of young dynamic players and older experience, and we’ll lean on getting the right mix for strong results.”