Black Hills State women's soccer scored its first goal of the season in a 1-1 draw with Minot State Monday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets (0-2-1) put up seven shots and three shots on goal as a team while the defense faced 14 shots.

"Really proud of our players," said Head Coach Andrew Conniff. "This was our third match in five days and believe it was our best. Our quality through the first 60 minutes was great and we created more chances than we did in our previous matches. The minutes and fatigue caught up with us and it looked like we just had to battle through the end of the match."

Emma Avery was the scorer for the Yellow Jackets with a goal on three shots and two on goal.

Darby Whiteley also got a shot on goal off, while Allie Brown, Haley Hesselgesser and Maddi Avery recorded shots as well.

Makayla Dannelly grabbed five saves between the pipes.

"We had twenty different players play today which is a real testament to the depth of this team and their trust in each other," Conniff added. "Often the role midfielders play can be overlooked, but I think the game that Haley Steskal and Chloe Lonneman played today was superb. They make difficult things look incredibly simple."

The Yellow Jackets pressured early in the match with a pair of shots from Avery and Brown in the opening 10 minutes of play. The first half would finish scoreless, though, as both teams traded shots the rest of the period.

Out of the locker room, Hesselgesser drew a foul in the MSU box which resulted in a penalty kick. Emma Avery took the shot and planted it into the left side of the net for a goal, putting the Yellow Jacket ahead 1-0 in the 51st minute.

Both defenses took over from there, making good looks hard to come by for either team. In the 83rd minute, Whiteley managed a shot on goal to try and extend the lead, but it was picked up by the Beaver goalkeeper to keep the score at 1-0.

MSU missed on a shot in the 84th minute as they looked to even the score, and then a shot on goal in the 86th minute was saved by Dannelly. But in the 89th minute, the Beavers were able to take advantage of a penalty kick to lock the score at 1-all and force the match to end in a tie.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets will have a brief break in the schedule before they head to Billings, Mont, on Friday, Sept. 9 to take on MSU Billings.