Author: Mark Privratsky

​The '22 D1 and D2 Women's Soccer Tournaments kick off this Friday, November 11 and you can stream it all from home! The 100+ Minnesotans playing D1 this year have been whittled down to just 11 left in the Tourney, while Mankato and Bemidji are bringing major Minnesota power to the D2 Tournament with hopes on a run to the second weekend (and beyond!). We've made it easy for you to find some Minnesotans to watch, with D1 games all playing on ESPN+, and the D2 games streaming for free from team websites. In D1, Maddie Dahlien and UNC start against Old Dominion on Sat, Nov 12, while Kaitlyn Macbean and Penn State take on Quinnipiac on Sunday, Nov 13. Northwestern and their squad of Minnesotans made the Tourney for the first time since 2018 and are set up to potentially win a few games. In the D2 Tourney, Bemidji hosts the first two rounds for half of the Central Region, with a potential for a 2nd round matchup with Minnesota State-Mankato if each take care of business. Which Minnesotan will be the last standing in D1? Will Mankato or Bemidji make a deeper run this year? 

Bemidji is once again hosting some cold weather soccer this postseason. Last year's NSIC Tournament was a snowy mess until the BSU Baseball team shoveled the whole football stadium clear before the final. This year it's the NCAA's that could see snow. Look for Bemidji fans to turn out in force and Mankato fans to travel well, and with layers. Here's to hoping we see an all NSIC matchup on Sunday in the 2nd Round

Mark sits down with Minnesota State Mavericks star Brynn Desens to talk about her storied college career, her year getting the chance to play another season, her pitch-side marriage proposal, and more!

​You can watch the recorded LIVE version of the video show below or you can listen ​to it as a podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher. Show presented by Pentz Homes (pentzhomes.com)

Author: Mark Privratsky

With 1 game left in the Northern Sun Conference season, the UMD Bulldogs have won 4 in a row and control their own destiny for their first NSIC Tourney spot since 2017. Mankato has all but claimed the #1 seed and hosting rights throughout, BSU and Concordia St Paul are playing for seeding, while Winona sits 1 point away from the NSIC Tourney. The bottom seeds could all change based on this weekend's games, when every team will face their travel partner. St Cloud St is out of the playoff picture but could ruin UMD or Winona's hopes depending on how results shake out on the final match day tomorrow, October 27. Everything is leading up to the NSIC Tournament, which kicks off with Halloween Quarterfinals, with the Semis on November 4th and the Championship on the 6th (hosted by the top remaining seed).

The First Years on this UMD team were in Middle School the last time the Bulldogs made the top 8 in the NSIC. Thanks to four 1 goal wins in a row over Wayne St, Augustana, Moorhead and Northern St, they control their own destiny going into the final game against St Cloud. Along with an early season win over Minot, the wins at Augustana and at home against Northern are the biggest of the year for UMD. With the 1-0 win over Northern (compliments of a BANGER from Anna Tobias seen above^), the Bulldogs leapfrogged the Wolves and set the stage for a tense final game with St Cloud. They need to get at least a draw to feel safe and a win would lock in a postseason spot. Hats off to Duluth for making a big step forward, doubling their Conference points after being 10+ out from NSIC Tourney play last year. 

In the recent Coaches Poll, Mankato climbed to 13th and were joined by frequently ranked #21 Bemidji St. Last week the NCAA also released the Regional Rankings for D2 Soccer. Most of the time these rankings are just a nice addition to a headline, but when they are huge when it comes to At Large NCAA Tournament births. If a team doesn't win their Conference Tournament, there are only so many At Large births available. As is typical, only a few NSIC teams are in the top 10, Augustana, Mankato and Bemidji. That means for the NSIC in MN, only Mankato(currently 7th) or Bemidji(currently 2nd) could hope to get an At Large bit should they fail to win the Northern Sun. Neither team will want to leave that to chance, as Bemidji hopes to return for a second run in the NCAAs, and Mankato looking to prove last year's 2nd round loss was just a fluke. 

In the NSIC Standings, Mankato is just 3 points up on Bemidji, with Minot and Augustana a couple points further behind. At the end of the day, a win is a win, so the Maverick's rivals should feel confident of their ability to challenge Mankato. However, it you take a deeper look at their margin of production vs their NSIC rivals, and the gap is significant. As the team that runs up the score on the bottom of the table more than anyone, they have an average margin of victory of 2.3 goals, almost a goal and a half better than the next best team, and 3 times higher than rival Bemidji. However, when it comes to the big games, the Mavericks won't expect to put up a 7-0 football score to guarantee victory. They knocked off last year's National Champion Grand Valley State in a gritty 1-0 win earlier this fall, where they showed the grit and defensive ability to handle big opponents. 

Friday, October 14
Minot St 0-0 Mankato St
Bemidji St 3-0 SW Minnesota St
UMD 1-0 Wayne State
St Cloud St 0-2 Augustana
Moorhead St 0-3 Winona St
UM Crookston 1-1 Sioux Falls
U Mary 2-0 Concordia St Paul

Sunday, October 16
Minot St 0-0 Concordia St Paul
Northern St 1-1 Winona St
St Cloud St 1-1 Wayne St
Bemidji St 4-1 Wayne St
U Mary 0-1 Mankato St
UMD 1-0 Augustana
UM Crookston 0-6 SW Minnesota St
Moorhead St 1-1 Upper Iowa

Friday, October 21
Sioux Falls 0-3 Mankato St
UMD 2-1 Moorhead St
Bemidji St 2-0 U Mary
St Cloud 0-1 Northern St
Wayne St 0-2 Winona St
SW Minnesota St 1-2 Concordia St Paul
UM Crookston 0-5 Minot St

Sunday, October 23
Minot St 0-0 Bemidji St
U Mary 1-0 UM Crookston
Mankato St 5-0 SW Minnesota St
Winona St 0-2 Augustana
Northern St 0-1 UMD
Concordia St Paul 2-2 Sioux Falls
Moorhead St 0-3 St Cloud St

There are 2 Minnesota teams with big implications tomorrow. Plenty of seeds could change but for Minnesota schools, the drama lies with UMD and Winona State. If UMD wins, they are in. A tie could do a well, but they'd have to hope for results elsewhere. Winona is just 1 point off of 8th and 2 points off of 6th (with tiebreakers tbd). They need to win and they need UMD or others to falter. Moorhead could REALLY help their rivals by defeated current 8 seed Northern State in Aberdeen as well. Tune in Friday afternoon to see how the NSIC Tournament shakes out ahead of its kickoff on Halloween Day. 

Thursday, October 27
Upper Iowa at Winona St
Kickoff - 5:00pm
STREAM: ​nsicnetwork.com/

St Cloud St at UMD
Kickoff - 6:00pm
STREAM: nsicnetwork.com/

Moorhead St at Northern State
Kickoff: 5:30pm
STREAM: nsicnetwork.com/