BROOKINGS — South Dakota State closed out the regular season on Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 win over Oral Roberts at Fishback Soccer Park.

The Jackrabbits finished the regular season with a record of 12-4-2 overall and 5-2-1 in the Summit League. SDSU will be the No. 3 seed in the Summit League Tournament and will host No. 6 seeded South Dakota on Friday at 6 p.m. SDSU head coach Brock Thompson said it was nice to get a win at the end of the regular season, but it also gave the Jacks a chance to play one more match in Brookings.

“The important piece is it gives us another home game, which is really important to this team. That’s awesome. Our team is always focused on playing well. I thought we played well at times [on Sunday], but I thought at other times we gave up too much pressure. It’s just a special group on senior day and you always want to come away with the win,” Thompson said.

SDSU’s lone goal of the match came in the ninth minute of play. Kaycee Manding sent the ball into the box and hit off of an ORU player’s head. It then found the foot of Maleah Evans and she sent it towards the center of the box where Katelyn Buelke was able to put it past the keeper and make it 1-0.

The Jacks put some pressure on at the end of the first half but were unable to extend the lead. Thompson said it was nice to get the early goal but he thought his team got a little complacent the rest of the half.

“The wind played a little bit of a factor, so getting the goal early when you have the wind at your back helps you a little bit. But I think it actually caused us to not play with the urgency that we needed to at the end of the first half to find a second one. But anytime you score an early goal it helps take a little of the pressure off,” Thompson said.

Oral Roberts amped up its pressure in the second half as the Golden Eagles had 10 shots in the second 45 minutes. However, SDSU goalkeeper Stephanie Leckwold stood tall and had seven saves in the second half. Thompson said

“They had a lot of chances and to be honest, we fell too much in and around the box and gave them a lot of set pieces, which is where most of their dangerous chances came from. We have to move our feet a little better in those moments, but I thought our team dug deep, stuck together and found a way to get through the second half,” Thompson said.

SDSU had 11 shots and six of them were on goal. ORU had 13 total shots. The Golden Eagles and four corner kicks and 14 fouls. The Jacks had five corner kicks and 13 fouls.

Avery Murdzek led the Jacks with three shots and one of them was on goal. Beulke and Mia Bosch each had two shots and one was on goal. Evans, Hailee Christensen and Taryn Hettich each had one shot that was on goal. Lauren Eckerle had one shot that was not on goal.

The Golden Eagles were led by Samantha Guzman who had four shots and two were on goal. Carson Arne and Lela Start each had two shots that were on goal. Arian Fresquez had one shot that was on goal.

Emma Knack played the first 45 minutes in net for SDSU and she did not see any shot attempts.

SDSU will look to defend its Summit League Tournament championship starting next weekend. The winner of the match between SDSU and USD will play No. 2 seeded Denver in Fargo in the semifinals on Nov. 7. The Jacks and ‘Yotes played to a 1-1 draw on Oct. 11.

Thompson said this time of the year is what the Jacks prepare for all year long.

“Our program has always been about playing meaningful games in late October and early November, and that’s what we’ve been doing this week and we’ll be doing next week. It’s why we train so hard and why we play the way that we do, so when we’re in those moments we play at our best. The excitement will be there, we just have to balance it with the right level of intelligence,” Thompson said.