VERMILLION, S.D. — For junior Madeline Butterfield, choosing South Dakota was about academics with playing for the Coyotes' soccer team a bonus.
 
"I'm really into school, my career and science specifically," Butterfield, who is an honors student, said. "I really liked the campus and that I could have a personal academic career. The fact that I could play soccer was cool and it has kept me balanced."
 
Part of the honors program, Butterfield has to complete a thesis before graduation and she balanced her athletic career this summer while checking for state threatened species in Lake Oahe. Thanks to a U Discovery Grant, she was able to survey the Lake Oahe portion of the Missouri River from the North Dakota/South Dakota border to Pierre.
 
"As a medical biology major, I work for an ecology lab on campus for Dr. (Jacob) Kerby," Butterfield explained. "This past spring he suggested that I try to get a U Discovery Grant through campus. I spent the summer camping, was on a boat and got to hang out with the turtles."
 
Butterfield, along with Dr. Kerby, set traps the size of hula-hoops to capture turtles where they identified and swabbed them before setting them free.
 
"The trap is basically three hula-hoops with a net in-between," described Butterfield. "One side is open and the other side is closed and baited with sardines. On the side that is open, they can get in but is very difficult to get out.
 
"You stake them into the water, waist deep, wait 24 hours, come back and there are usually turtles."
 
The state threatened species of the false map turtle was hard to find in the Oahe Lake region, which led to a good and bad scenario for Butterfield.
 
"It's not good that they are not there, but it is good because they were going to get taken off the state threatened list," Butterfield said. "Because of that, the turtles will stay on the list with bigger conservation efforts made to help them."
 
Another team of researchers will head back to the same location next summer to check for a new status of the false map turtles, with results reported to the South Dakota Game Fish & Parks.  
 
However, the work didn't stop for Butterfield. Back on campus, she worked full days while balancing her soccer workouts to be prepared for the season.
 
"During the fieldwork, there wasn't a lot of time to do soccer specific things," she said. "I would run and do push-ups to keep some endurance. But back on campus I could work during the day then catch up with the team after that.
 
"It was a balancing act but it ended up working out."
 
Butterfield now spends her days going to class, playing soccer and finishing her analysis from the trip.
 
"I took samples and I am doing tests for a common virus that is in turtles, frogs and fish," Butterfield said. "I am checking them to see the bacterial composition of their gut to help with my senior thesis.
 
"By the end of this year, my research will be done and I will have a couple of chapters for my thesis."
 
With the soccer side of things, Butterfield and her teammates are set to host Kansas State on Thursday with a 4 p.m. kickoff.
 
The Wildcats are in their second year of existence, holding a 3-3-1 record. Common opponents with USD this year include a 1-0 loss to Northern Iowa and a 3-2 setback to Creighton.
 
Brookelynn Entz and Morgan Mauck lead the team with five points each. Both have tallied two goals and an assist, with Entz leading the team with 22 shots including 11 on goal.
 
Miranda Larkin has played every minute in goal for K-State, working to a 0.97 goals against average with 33 saves and three shutouts. The shutouts include victories over Oral Roberts, Omaha and a 0-0 tie with Oregon State.
 
Following Thursday's home match, the Coyotes travel to Kansas City, Missouri, for a 1 p.m. kickoff with UMKC. The Roos own a 2-5-1 record with victories over South Dakota State and Illinois-Chicago.
 
Picked to finish second in the Western Athletic Conference, the Roos are powered by 2016 first team all-WAC selection Kelsey Mothershead who has tallied a goal and two assists. Kansas City also has preseason all-WAC selections Reighan Childers and Lexie Howard on its roster. Howard leads the team with three goals while Childers has an assist.
 
Erin Roth and Anna Lillig have split time in goal for UMKC with Lillig playing in six games but Roth in the last two. Roth owns a 1.10 goals against average while Lillig has a 1.82 goals against average.
 
Following the match with UMKC, the Coyotes begin Summit League action with North Dakota State on September 28.