Minnesota State–Moorhead Dragons
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The Minnesota State–Moorhead Dragons (also MSU Moorhead Dragons, MSUM Dragons, and formerly Moorhead State Dragons) are the athletic teams that represent
Minnesota State University Moorhead Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) is a public university in Moorhead, Minnesota, across the Red River of the North from Fargo, North Dakota. The school has an enrollment of 7,534 students in 2019 and 266 full-time faculty members. MSUM ...
, located in
Moorhead, Minnesota Moorhead ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Minnesota, Clay County, Minnesota, United States, on the banks of the Red River of the North. Located in the Red River Valley, an extremely fertile and active agricultural region, Moo ...
, in
NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...
intercollegiate sports. The Dragons generally compete as members of the
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Upper Midwest of the United States. Nine of ...
for all 14 varsity sports.


Varsity teams

Minnesota State University Moorhead plays in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference as one of the charter members. The conference was founded as the Northern Teachers Athletic Conference in 1932, when MSUM was Moorhead State Teachers College. For decades, the NSIC competed in the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...
. In 1964, MSUM won the NAIA national championship in wrestling. The NSIC entered the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
in 1992 and by 1995 full members at the Division II level. In total, the Dragons have won 101 conference championships, with 77 in men's sports and 24 in women's


Men's basketball

MSUM has won four division titles and six conference titles in the NSIC. The Dragons won conference titles in 1964–1965, 1970–1971, 1980–1981, 1981–1982, 2014–2015 and 2016–2017. The Dragons have also earned eight trips to the NSIC Tournament Final, winning the title in 2022, 2023 and 2025. The Dragons are coached by Tim Bergstraser, who took the helm in the 2022-2023 season. In that first year, Bergstraser’s team won the NSIC Tournament Championship and earned a national tournament berth. The following season, Bergstraser’s team earned a No. 1 ranking in the polls and later returned to the national tournament. After defeating Pittsburg State in the first round, they fell to eventual National Champion Minnesota State-Mankato. Bergstraser’s predecessor was Chad Walthall, who led MSUM from 2010-2022. Walthall’s rebuild of MSUM’s basketball program took off in his second season, when he brought the team back to the
post season The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
for the first time since 1965 and the first 20 win season since 1982. In an exhibition game to start that second season, Walthall’s team earned a 90-84 win in double overtime against the Division I North Dakota State University Bison, located in Moorhead’s neighboring city of Fargo. In his tenure, Walthall’s Dragon teams reached the NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament six times, with the final berth in 2022
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
via the NSIC tournament title. Following the conclusion of the season, Walthall retired from the position in March 2022. The highlight of his tenure was the 2014-2015 season, when he led the team to a 35-4 record culminating in a deep run in the 2015 tournament. That season he was named conference, Central Region and National coach of the year.


Women's basketball

MSUM has earned six conference titles, with championship seasons in 1981–1982, 1984–1985, 2004–2005, 2016–2017, 2017–2018 and 2018–2019. The team has also won four division titles. Current Head Coach Karla Nelson has been with MSUM since 2000. Nelson has led the Dragons on six trips to the NCAA Division II tournament. She's earned coach of the year honors from the NSIC four times.


Football

MSUM has 16 NSIC titles. They won the conference in 1932, 1934, 1935, 1947, 1952, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1995. Nine of those conference championships were won by MSUM’s winningest coach Ross Fortier, who helmed the program from 1970-1992. During his tenure, the Dragons went 152-80-4, earning 10 playoff berths. He was succeeded by Ralph Micheli who coached from 1993-2004, winning the NSIC in 1995. Steve Laqua, the Dragons' 17th football coach, was hired in spring 2011 after helming the Fargo Shanley High School program. In 2015, after defeating Minnesota Crookston 59–21, the Dragons earned their first winning season since 2006 with a 6–5 record. The next year, Laqua's team increased its win total to 7–4. While the Dragons finished with a losing 5–6 record in 2017, the 18 wins over those three years were the most victories since the 1995–1997 seasons. The 2018 campaign proved to be Laqua's best season so far with the Dragons, earning an 8–4 record and a trip to the
Mineral Water Bowl The Mineral Water Bowl was an annual American NCAA Division II college football bowl game held in Excelsior Springs, Missouri at Tiger Stadium. Throughout its long history (1948 to 2019), the game was sponsored by the Quarterback Club, a civic ...
. In the regular season finale, the Dragons defeated St. Cloud State University to earn their eighth win, their most victories since 1991. The Mineral Water Bowl, which the Dragons lost 51–16 to Missouri University of Science and Technology, was the first postseason game for MSUM since 1994. After a 6–5 campaign in 2019 where they finished the season by defeating St. Cloud State University, the Dragons did not play in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, the team returned to action, finishing 5–6. The following season, MSUM would go 4-7, losing the finale against
Wayne State College Wayne State College (WSC) is a public college in Wayne, Nebraska. It is part of the Nebraska State College System and enrolls 4,202 students. The college opened as a public normal school in 1910 after the state purchased the private Nebraska Nor ...
. The team bounced back with a winning record in 2023, finishing 7-4. The 2023 campaign included the Dragons' first ever win against the University of Sioux Falls after losing the previous five games. They followed up with another winning season in 2024, finishing 6-5, including a victory of the University of Minnesota Duluth Bullodgs. It was their first victory against UMD since 1999.


Rivalries

The
Red River Valley The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...
Showdown vs the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles for the State Farm Traveling Trophy. MSUM leads the series 14–7. The series ended in 2020 when UMC cut its football program. The Battle for the Paddle Trophy vs the University of Mary (Bismarck). MSUM leads the series 10-8. The Paddle was developed by the student governments, as both schools are located near a river. UMary is located on the
Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...
and MSUM is near the Red River. The Battle for the Axe vs
Bemidji State University Bemidji State University (BSU) is a public university in Bemidji, Minnesota, United States. Founded as a preparatory institution for teachers in 1919, it provides higher education to north-central Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Coll ...
. MSUM leads 38–34–3 in the series for the trophy which dates back to 1948. The axe originated in the village of Mount Hagon, New Guinea. The series as a whole dates back to 1929, with MSUM holding a 47–40–3 series lead in total. The Dragons also had a cross-town rivalry with Concordia College in Moorhead. Concordia leads the now defunct rivalry 49–25–12, winning the final game in a 34–32 thriller. Today Concordia plays at the
NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...
level in the
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC ) is an List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division III, Division III. All 13 of the mem ...
. The two schools still play in other sports, such as basketball.


Non-varsity teams

MSUM has a wide variety of intramural sports including flag football, softball, and soccer. Club teams are also available for men's and women's rugby, men's and women's lacrosse, and baseball which compete nationally. MSU Moorhead also has a club ice hockey team, which began play in the 2018–2019 season. The team is part of the American Club Hockey Association, participating at the Division II level.


Facilities

The Dragons football team plays at Alex Nemzek Stadium, a 6,000 seat facility. The stadium is named after the school's athletic director from 1923–1941. In 2015, the stadium received a renovation, with the added title of Scheels Field. Nemzek's name is also on the 3,500 seat fieldhouse and basketball arena. In 2012, Nemzek Fieldhouse was renovated, with new sound systems, scoreboards and a 144-square foot video board installed. The next year, a new basketball court was installed in the arena. The school's soccer and softball fields are also named after Nemzek.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Minnesota State-Moorhead Dragons