Ashton Gerard/MDN Senior Jennifer Mada (12) attempts to keep the ball inbound while being guarded by Ashley Franco as Taryn Love (14) watches on Tuesday evening at Herb Parker Stadium.

Midnight Madness at 7 p.m. Doesn’t sound right, but the Minot State women’s soccer team got a slight head start on the 2018 season Tuesday evening at Herb Parker Stadium.

The Beavers are participating in a foreign tour in Canada, so the NCAA permits an earlier practice schedule. MSU will play four exhibition games against the University of Regina from August 16-18 and two exhibition games against the University of Manitoba on August 20.

The intrasquad scrimmage on Tuesday was divided into the white team and the green team. They played two 30-minute halves with the white team winning 2-0. Goals were scored by senior Taryn Love and sophomore Jordyn Cook.

“We got 26 returners, so I think we are in pretty good shape,” MSU head coach Jason Spain said on Monday leading up to Beavers’ eighth annual Midnight Madness. “We are pretty excited.”

The Beavers bring back a large core of last year’s roster that finished fourth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with a 12-5-2 overall record. MSU scored 41 goals last season — second-most in program history — and conceded a program-best 0.56 goals per game.

The graduation of defensive leader and free kick specialist Kelli Creese hurts in that regard, but the returning players scored 36 out of the Beavers’ 41 goals. Offensively, MSU has too many weapons for Spain to utilize at the same time.

“Jordyn Cook has really come up, she started last year at center striker and then we brought in Cinthya Samaniego,” Spain said. “And you got Haley (Berryman), Sofia (Lewis) and now Jordyn. Taryn Love had maybe the best spring out of all of our players… So, we got these five front runners for three spots, which is very interesting.”

Midnight Madness was an opportunity to move the puzzle pieces around to find lethal combinations.

Minot native Love scored the only goal in the final minutes of last year’s Midnight Madness. Fellow Minot High graduate Sofia Lewis was an NSIC Freshman of the Year hopeful last season by leading the Beavers in goals (12) and points (29) as a true freshman.

Berryman and Cook were second and third on the team in goals scored with seven and five, respectively.

Last but certainly not least, Samaniego has received high praise from Spain since she signed with the Beavers. The Arizona Western College transfer collected 66 points (26 goals, 14 assists) in 23 games last season.

“We signed the top junior college player in the country in Cinthya Samaniego,” Spain said. “And I think we have a pretty good outlook. I think we can compete for the Northern Sun and I honestly think we can beat anyone this year. The key is, can we do it in tournament play? I think we have learned our lesson the past couple of years.”

Tournament time has been cruel for the Beavers. Last year on a snowy and windy night at Herb Parker Stadium, University of Mary upended MSU 1-0 in the first round of the NSIC Tournament. The year prior, the regular season NSIC champion Beavers bowed out to Augustana in the semifinals of the NSIC Tournament at home and then again to Central Oklahoma in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I can tell you this, we will be more prepared this year than we were last year,” Spain said. “We have to learn to play slug it out soccer, no matter the weather with wind or rain or muddy grass. Augustana didn’t mow its lawn and Wayne State didn’t mow their grass before they played us. So, those were tough matches for us. Everyone brings that slug it out game to try and slow our finesse down, our speed and quickness. So, we just got to be a little more tough-minded.”

Toughness was tested early last season as well, as the Beavers started the season 3-4-1.

A faster start this season would be desired, like how they jumped the gun on Midnight Madness.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.