BROOKINGS – South Dakota State extended its unbeaten streak at Fishback Soccer Park to 37 games on Sunday as the Jackrabbits beat Kansas State 2-0.

SDSU improved to 6-0-3 on the season and it was the first time the Jacks beat a power-five team since 2019 when SDSU beat Minnesota on the road 1-0.

Neither team scored in the first half. Maya Hansen would break the 0-0 tie with a goal in the 50th minute. Lane Murdzek found Hansen and she put the ball into the back of the net for the fifth time this season and 33rd time for her career.

15 minutes later SDSU doubled its lead. Katherine Jones sent a pass upfield and connected with Cece Limongi. Limongi worked her way through some Wildcat defenders and scored her third goal of the season to put the Jacks up 2-0. 

SDSU head coach Brock Thompson said he thought this was the best game that SDSU has played so far this year.

“I think it’s the most complete 90 minutes we’ve played up until this point of the season. We played against a really good team in Kansas State, they’re really well organized. I’m proud of the way we did the things we asked of our players. To play facing forward, to move the ball quick, and really just to trust our style of play in a game like this,” Thompson said.

SDSU held a 16-8 advantage in shots and the Jacks put seven shots on goal and KSU had three. The Jacks had 14 corner kicks and the Wildcats had one. KSU had 12 fouls and SDSU had five.

Hansen led SDSU with six shots and three of them were on goal. Limongi had two shots and one of them was on goal. Kaycee and Karlee Manding each had two shots, one on goal. Avery Murdzek had one shot on goal. Lauren Eckerle had two shots and Kayla Anderson had one. 

Bailey Nemechek led the Wildcats with three shots, one on goal. Aliyah El-Naggar and Adah Anderson each had one shot on goal. Kursten von Klahr, Marisa Weichel and Erin Morrissey each had one shot.

Hailee Fischer and Jocelyn Tanner each played a half in net for the Jacks. Fischer had one save and Tanner had two. It was the second-straight shutout for the Jacks. 

This was the final nonconference game for SDSU and the Jacks will open up Summit League play with three-straight home games. The Jacks play South Dakota in the South Dakota Showdown Series on Saturday at 6 p.m. SDSU will then host Denver on Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. and Omaha on Oct. 2 at 1 p.m.

Thompson said he is looking forward to seeing how his team does in conference play.

“Our program has always been based on growth,” Thompson said. “Nothing more, nothing less, and so it’s great to see growth. The real challenge is we have to get better this week because conference play is around the corner. We have a great matchup on Saturday that will test us in ways in which some of these games we’ve played haven’t tested us yet.”