Until the final 15 minutes, UND largely was in control as the Fighting Hawks led North Dakota State 1-0. Another Summit League win was in focus.
The final 15 minutes, though, was more of a blur for UND as NDSU rallied-taking a 2-1 Summit League win at East Grand Forks Senior High Field on Sunday.
Hanna Norman and Malley O'Brien scored goals two minutes apart for the Bison, who improved to 3-0-0 in the Summit and 6-4-0 overall. O'Brien's game winner came at 77:44 when she knocked home a cross feed in the box.
UND dropped to 2-1-0 in the league and 8-3-1 overall. For UND, a quality win against a top-four team in the Summit slipped away in the closing minutes.
"We were comfortable at the time," said UND coach Chris Logan. "But we had a mistake in the box and sometimes that happens. And at this level, you get punished."
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UND took a 1-0 lead on Katie Moller's 10th goal of the season, that coming at 51:11.
But the Bison rallied as they outshot UND 17-14 and had 10 corner kicks to UND's one.
"This team (NDSU) has been in the Summit championship; they know how to find a way," said Moller. "For us, it's learning how to find a way and learning how to close out games. It just gives us a big chip on our shoulders.
"In the past, this game has always been, 'Let's play defense the whole game.' This time, we took it at them. Even in the second half, we kind of had the upper hand."
UND's focus remains on making the four-team Summit League tournament. Now, however, the Hawks will have to pick up some points on the road starting Thursday at Omaha.
"It was back-and-forth," said Logan of the game. "I'm disappointed with the result, but not the effort. That was a game that could have gone either way. Unfortunately we were on the wrong end of the drama today. They're a top-four team and we almost had them today."
Added Moller: "It just shows us that we've come a long way and that we can really play with teams like this."
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