In their first year of Division I competition, the Fighting Sioux soccer team has a hectic 18-game schedule, which includes 12 matches with Division I opponents and 14 away matches. This season, FightingSioux.com will feature a blog by captain Lara Traczyk that provides insight on life on the road as a UND student-athlete, as well as give readers a first-hand look at he opponents the Fighting Sioux face. The following is Lara's most recent entry:

After a long weekend, we walked off the bus on Sunday night holding our heads high. We are one step closer to where we need to be to play at the Division I level.

We started the week off well with a 2-0 victory over Northern State, which kept us undefeated on our home field. We were all really excited to beat this team, especially after losing to them in the spring. The win was proof that we keep getting better and stronger as a team, both on and off the field. 

The game against Green Bay did not go as well as Tuesday's match, but we left knowing what we had to work on and fix for our next game. We did a good job fixing those issues and came out with a 6-0 win on Sunday against Concordia-St. Paul. It was really nice to see our team so pumped up for this game, and we were lucky to have several UND alumni at the game as well. 

Everyone played well against Concordia and it became apparent that all those 6 a.m. practices and fitness training sessions are paying off. The win on Sunday helped us regain our spirits and has us looking forward to our trip to New York this week.