Alex Eisen/MDN Minot State forward Haley Berryman (18) shields off her defender in a conference game against MSU Moorhead last Sunday at Herb Parker Stadium.

Minot State women’s soccer coach Jason Spain might be having a case of deja vu.

At least, he hopes he is.

After a slow start to this season, the Beavers rattled off a 10-game unbeaten streak to earn themselves the No. 4 seed and a home game in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate women’s soccer tournament. MSU faces rival and No. 5 University of Mary at 5 p.m. today at Herb Parker Stadium in the single-elimination tournament. U-Mary (11-4-2) won the first matchup between the two teams earlier this year, beating the Beavers 2-1 on Sep. 3 in Bismarck.

In the 2012 season, Spain’s Beavers started the year in a similar slump, but eventually went on a second-half tear that saw them win the NSIC Tournament and earn an NCAA Tournament berth. Those Beavers opened the NSIC Tournament with a victory over the Marauders and then beat Minnesota State Mankato in the semifinals, which will likely be MSU’s next opponent if it can get past U-Mary.

“This is crazy, it almost mirrors 2012,” Spain said. “At the beginning of the year, we lost to Mary at their place, then the season went on and we got really hot down the stretch. We were just outside of the NCAA rankings so we knew we’d have to get to the conference championship game. We drew the last Friday game of the season like we just did last week, then beat Mary in the first round playoff game at home, then went on to beat Mankato in the semis and eventually won the championship. It’s looking like this could be similar to that year.”

But first, MSU (12-4-2) needs to get past its in-state rival before it can think about taking down top-seed Mankato for the second time this season.

“They’re a very good team,” Spain said. “We finished two and a half games ahead of them after starting a game down. I know we’re much improved since that game. It’s the first playoff game for a lot of our girls and the first for theirs as well. They’re super physical, so we’re going to have to stretch them out.”

Offensively, MSU is led by Minot native and freshman Sofia Lewis, who has a team-high 29 points and an NSIC-leading 12 goals. Meanwhile, Haley Berryman and Jordyn Cook have added seven and five goals, while Kelli Creese has notched four goals.

Berryman has dished out a team-high six assists, followed by Lewis and Ashley Franco with five and four assists, respectively.

As a team, Minot State is third in the NSIC with 41 goals scored and a plus-31 goal differential this season.

“We’ve actually scored one more goal than last year’s team had at the end of the regular season,” Spain said. “Hopefully, we can keep that scoring up. I remember last year we had a great home environment and a big crowd. Hopefully, we have another big crowd (tonight) and we can advance to (assumably) Mankato. I know it’s definitely going to be a grind, that’s what you’d expect out of a No. 4 vs. No. 5 game.”

MSU Goalkeeper Erin Rafferty has totaled 66 saves and is 12-4-2 on the season with a .53 goals-against average and a .868 save percentage.

For the Marauders, Jade Smith and Megan Lowery lead the offense with seven goals apiece, while Caylin Cathey has scored six goals. Cathey has dished out a team-high six assists.

Goalkeeper Hannah Smith is 9-4-2 on the season with a 0.91 goals-against average and .812 save percentage.

In nine meetings between the two teams, the all-time series is tied 3-3-3.

If the Beavers beat U-Mary, they will face the winner of the Minnesota Duluth/Mankato game Friday at a site yet to be determined.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.