Through three games Chloe Melton had one shot on goal. Apart from that single shot her stat box looked bare.

Stepping up her game in the last few games Melton has scored a goal and assisted three others including the two goals scored against Southwest Minnesota State in the 2-1 victory for the Minot State University soccer team.

"Chloe has raised her level of play in the last four games," said head coach Jason Spain. "She was big time today with two assists."

With the two assists in today's game Melton (F, Jr., Fleet, England) added to her career points total, which now sits at 21. She remains at sixth all-time in career points scored, just one point away from moving into a tie for fifth at 22.

Playing better has also increased in Melton's minutes, averaging 66 minutes per game in the last two games played. Previous to that she was averaging just 34.

Increasing the playing time for Melton did well for Minot State (6-1, 4-0) in a game that went into overtime at Southwest Minnesota State (2-4-1, 2-2). Melton's final assist was to Andrea Franco (F, Fr., Long Beach, Calif.) who scored the game winning goal four minutes into overtime play to secure the victory.

The first goal of the game came from Ninfa Ramirez (F, Jr., Perris, Calif.) who scored her fifth goal of the year. But the offense wasn't the best part of the Beavers game.

"We grinded today," Spain said. "It was a tough game and I'm proud of the way my team played. Our backline was amazing. We haven't been allowing very many shots on goal."

SMSU was only able to get five shots off in their homecoming game with just three shots on goal. This season the Beavers have been held their opponents to 25 shots on goal. Compare that to the 52 shots on goal from Minot State. That difference has allowed MSU to outscore their competition 13-6 in 2015.

Part of the reason the Beaver defense was so dominant was because of the way Haley Lolmaugh (D, Sr., Phelan, Calif.) handled the Mustangs leading scorer Miranda Cadena who only managed to get off two shots.

"Haley had a mountain of a task mark Cadena today," said Spain. "She has done a great job all season in marking some of the other teams' best players."

Minot State will look to continue its hot streak in conference play tomorrow, September 27 when they take on the University of Sioux Falls (2-4, 1-3) at 1 p.m.

About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.