SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – South Dakota State Women’s Soccer has been flirting in the NCAA tournament for some time now, making their way through the Summit League and trying to take on Power 5 opponents.

This year’s campaign starts with a team they played as an exhibition last season: The Kansas Jayhawks. That match gets underway tomorrow, August 15, at 7:00 p.m. at Fishback Soccer Park in Brookings.

It’s part of a pretty tough opening schedule for the Jackrabbits, but that’s the way they designed it according to head coach Brock Thompson.

He said getting those tough challenges early is going to help the team sharpen their skills, especially a team that’s looking to make quite an impact this year.

The team itself is excited with the players they brought on this year to help bolster the roster. That includes a number of freshmen who could make an impact early on in the season, as they look for as much fan support as they can get.

“We want to play the best schedule that we can because we know that as we go through the course of the season and need to grow that ultimately it’s going to come down to winning games late and any experience that you have, any challenges that you have along the way, are going to help with that,” Thompson said.

“This is a really great group of girls, especially with the freshman. And it goes with everybody from the coaches to the players to the fans so we look forward to having everyone out at Fishback to watch us hopefully get our first win,” SDSU Midfielder/Defender Katherine Jones said.

After Thursday’s game, South Dakota State makes a Colorado swing to take on Northern Colorado, and Colorado College.

Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.