indoor track facility on the North side of campus. The NDSU soccer program has only been in existence since 1995, when the program played their first season under coach Gordon Henderson in Division II. The team played at two different sites while in Division II. The Bison started at Cardinal Muench Seminary's field off of NDSU's campus. Then after the 1996 season, the team moved on campus for the first time playing on a field part of the Ellig Sports Complex on the northwest side of campus. While in Division II, the team played in their first and only Division II tournament. In the 1999 season, the Bison placed second in the North Central Conference regular season. Since the conference did not have a full-league tournament, the top two teams were good enough to make the full Division II tournament. After that, the NCC started a conference tournament, in 2000 NDSU was the runner-up in the final game and missed the national tournament. Between that season and 2004, the Bison wouldn't finish high enough to make the conference tournament and did not see another Division II tournament. After the 2003 season, NDSU started their reclassification to Division I. During their reclassification years, the Bison started as Division I independents, joined the United Soccer Conference, and then finally joined the Summit League which has served as their conference of the future. Starting in 2008, the Bison emerged from reclassification and finished 7th in the Summit League and missed the conference tournament. But then in 2009, the team made their first Summit League tournament, and lost in the championship game. In 2010, the Bison women's soccer team achieved the program's first NCAA tournament bid with a victory over Western Illinois in the Summit League tournament final. Since that magical 2010 season, NDSU would make the conference tournament 8 consecutive seasons, which included 4 runner-ups. However, the team could not get over the hump of winning the final game and hasn't reached a Division I tournament since 2010. Under current head coach Mike Regan, the Bison have made two Summit League tournaments in his 5 seasons in Fargo, including 3 straight seasons of missing the tournament. Mascot "Thundar" is the official mascot of NDSU athletics. The mascot, which resembles the American Bison, comes from the term "thundering herd," a nickname given to NDSU athletic teams since changing its name from "Aggies" to "Bison"