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US Bank / NSIC Postseason Tournament
First Round
Teams: No. 5 Minot State at No. 4 Upper Iowa | Series: Upper Iowa leads 3-0-0
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014 | Time: 2 p.m. | Site: Pattison Field
Second Round-Semifinals (If Minot State wins)
Teams: Minot State vs winner of No. 1 Minnesota State/No. 8 Bemidji State
Date: Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 | Time: TBA | Site: TBD at highest remaining seed

MATCHUPS: Minot State is heading back to the NSIC postseason tournament for the third time in as many years. This year in the first round, Minot State travels to Upper Iowa in a match-up between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. Earlier this season, Upper Iowa edged past the Beavers gaining a 2-1 victory. Taylor Bachman-Williams (Sr., D, Minot, N.D.) got the Beavers on the board first giving them a 1-0 advantage at halftime, but two unanswered goals from the Peacocks did the Beavers in and handed them a loss. The winner of the first round match will either play No. 1 seed Minnesota State, who finished the regular season with an undefeated record, or No. 8 seed Bemidji State.

RECORDS: Minot State ended the regular season on a three game winning streak to move their record to 10-6-2 overall and 9-5-1 in the NSIC. The Beavers finished in fifth place in the NSIC. Upper Iowa finished the regular season with an overall record of 10-6-1 and a conference record of 10-4-1. The Peacocks finished tied for third in the NSIC but lost the No. 3 seed to a tiebreaker. Minnesota State ended the regular season a perfect 18-0 and 15-0 in the NSIC. Bemidji State rounded out their season with an overall record of 9-7-1 and a conference record of 8-5-1.

COACHES CORNER: 2014 marks Jason Spain's fifth season as head coach of the women's soccer program at Minot State. Spain has done impressive work in his four seasons with the team, sporting a highly successful 42-27-9 record. Last season, Spain led the Beavers to their second consecutive birth in the NSIC postseason tournament. In 2012, the Beavers won the NSIC tournament and claimed the automatic bid into the NCAA Division II tournament. Upper Iowa is led by Brian Diaz who is in his second season with the program. In his first season in 2013, the Peacocks tied their single season win total record with 15. Prior to his time with Upper Iowa, Diaz served as the lead assistant for South Alabama, an NCAA Division I school in the Sun Belt Conference. Brian Bahl is in his second season with Minnesota State. In his first year of work with the program, Bahl was named National Soccer Coaches Associate of America Central Region Coach of the Year. Six of his players were named All-NSIC including the conference's Offensive Player of the Year. Jim Stone is in his 13th season as the head coach of Bemidji State. Stone's teams have missed the NSIC postseason tournament just once in the last 10 seasons.

RANKINGS: Minnesota State is the only team ranked out of the three potential teams the Beavers can play this week, according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll released on Oct. 28. The Mavericks come in ranked as the No. 1 team in the country.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State ended its season on a strong note getting two wins on their final weekend of the regular season. This past Friday, the Beavers traveled to Northern State and came away with a 2-0 victory. Maritssa Perez (Fr., M, Santa Ana, Calif.) and Jamie MacFarlane (Sr., F, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) each recorded goals in the match. Sunday, the Beavers celebrated senior day with a 4-0 win against Minnesota State-Moorhead. All four of the Beavers goals were scored by seniors. Jamie Council (Sr., F, Atascadero, Calif.) scored the first two, while MacFarlane recorded the second two.

NOTING THE PEACOCKS: Upper Iowa ended their season with a win against Concordia-St. Paul this past weekend but dropped their first game of the weekend No. 1 Minnesota State. The Peacocks headed to halftime with the Mavericks down by just one goal, but two quick goals at the beginning of the second half for Minnesota State handed the Peakcocks a 4-1 loss to start the weekend. Upper Iowa responded well though in their final game of the regular season recording four goals of their own. Madie Edwards led the way with two goals and two assists.

NOTING THE MAVERICKS: Minnesota State made it through the regular season untouched, finishing with an undefeated 18-0 overall record and a perfect 15-0 NSIC record. The Mavericks scored a single goal just three times in their 18 games this year. The Mavericks began this past weekend with a 4-1 win at Upper Iowa and they followed it up with a 2-0 win against Winona State at home. Korey Fronforst, the 2013 NSIC Offensive Player of the Year, currently has 14 goals and four assists on the season.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Bemidji State didn't end the season the way they would have liked, losing their final two regular season games. Last Friday, the Beavers dropped a 2-0 match to Minnesota-Duluth at Duluth. Bemidji came home for their final game of the season looking to gain some momentum before the conference tournament, but the Beavers fell to St. Cloud State, who earned just their fifth win in the conference by defeating Bemidji.

WHAT A WEEK: Minot State's Jamie MacFarlane (Sr., F, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) had arguably the best week of her career this past week as she was honored as the NSIC's Offensive Player of the Week. MacFarlane recorded three goals and two assists in the week, and notably scored two goals and dished out an assist on her senior day against MSU-Moorhead. It was the first time in her career MacFarlane was named Player of the Week.

KEEPING IT CLEAN: Celene Johnson (Jr., GK, Rocklin, Calif.) hasn't allowed a goal in her last 285 minutes of play, including two clean sheets in the last two games. Against Northern State, Johnson made seven saves to preserve her clean sheet and was called upon just once against MSU-Moorhead to record the shutout. Johnson has a total of four clean sheets on the season.

ANOTHER JAMIE: Minot State's Jamie Council (Sr., F, Atascadero, Calif.) save her best performance of the year for last, as she scored two goals for the Beavers on her senior day against MSU-Moorhead. Council's first goal of the game was score in the first 16 seconds, good for the 14th fastest goal ever recorded in NCAA Division II women's soccer history. Her first goal against Moorhead was also the first goal she's scored since Sept. 29, 2012 against Concordia-St. Paul.

BY THE NUMBERS
.89: With the two clean sheets this past weekend, the Beavers goals against average dropped below one goal per game to .89 goals per game.

1: Jamie MacFarlane has assisted or scored on all but one of the goals the Beavers have scored in their past two games.

3-for-3: 2014 marks the third time in as many years that the Minot State women's soccer team has reached the NSIC post season tournament.