Submitted Photo Sofia Lewis scored one of the Beavers' two goals in their season-opening win over Black Hills State.

At long last, 147 days after its scheduled season opener, the Minot State women’s soccer team finally took the field to kick off its pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign.

The Beavers began their season with an exhibition game against the University of North Dakota at MSU’s Herb Parker Stadium.

They fell by a 3-1 score, but rebounded in their first regular season game with a 2-0 shutout of Black Hills State University. Melanie Van Walstijn’s fifty-second-minute kick made its way past Dz-Rae Jara to open the scoring, and Sofia Lewis added Minot State’s second goal at 57:15.

“I definitely think there was an excitement that we’re going to experience the joys of getting out there and representing Minot State,” head coach Chris Clements said. “Putting on the uniform and going through that whole camaraderie time of playing with teammates was a huge relief for our girls.”

The victory in the first game of the season was the icing on top of finally being able to get the season going. Back in Sept. 2020, the hiatus had to be put on the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic before the Beavers could play their first game.

Their originally-scheduled first game, intended for Sept. 5 against Minnesota Crookston, was postponed at first, and cancellation of the season came soon after from the NCAA and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

“We were disappointed, but understanding of the climate. The safety of our student-athletes is obviously the number one priority. It puts things into perspective a little bit, when you’re dealing with sports that player and fan safety is number one.”

The team never stopped preparing for the season’s return, despite the uncertainty of the exact date. Because the entire team was present at the time, practice went on under the guidance of Minot State COVID-19 safety protocols whenever the student-athletes were on campus.

The mindset shifted to staying in shape in effort to be ready at any time. When it became safe to start drawing up plans, Clements wanted his team to be nothing short of prepared.

Once the NSIC deemed it safe enough to return, its most important caveat was that teams needed to do what Minot State had included in its routine since the season was put on hold: follow safety protocols to a T.

“Our athletic director gave us some guidance that we should be able to start sometime in January,” Clements recalled. “So we went to work putting together a schedule for us, hopefully that we’d be able to follow through with it, and so far we’re two games in and going forward.”

Armed with a more concrete plan to return, Clements started ramping up practice to get his players in game shape once they returned from the holiday break.

He used resources available to him in making the informed decision that jumping right back into things was not a wise idea. The team decided that it would be a gradual increase to where they needed to be, all while socially distancing and making prudent choices away from the field.

The class patience, and understanding with which his coaching staff and team has handled the whole ordeal was not lost on Clements.

“Being adaptable is one of the biggest things it’s taught us,” he said. “Whether it’s players out or players coming back from being out with sickness, I think it’s just taught us to be adaptable and make the most of every training session because you never know when it could be the last one for a while. We’re just excited to play as many games as we possibly can.”