It wasn’t the best of years in the Bison soccer program, although the best way to cure that is to get some better players. The first recruiting class under head coach Mark Cook brought the program’s first player ranked in the top 150 players in the country in Lauren Miller from St. Louis Park. She was also a member of the U.S. under-14 and under-15 national teams and a participant in the Olympic Development Program. Sounds like a star.

Cook also used to coach her at the Minnesota Thunder Academy. “When I was her coach, there were 60 or 70 programs watching her every game,” he said. “And about five or six would talk to me each time.”

Miller had 75 career goals and 49 assists in her six-year varsity career. Among the “loop of schools” recruiting her were Iowa and Minnesota. “She just felt Fargo is a good place for her,” Cook said. “Her parents used to live in Fargo.”

The recruiting class is also the first time NDSU soccer got two players who played in the U.S. national program, Cook said, Did his experience with the Thunder Academy help? Of the nine recruits, six are Thunder alumni.

Also of interest to football historians: forward-midfielder Autumn Muckenhirn from Naperville, Ill., is the daughter of former Bison player Ken Muckenhirn. and NDSU softball player Jenny Soderberg.