South Dakota women's soccer posted their best season yet under head coach Michael Thomas in 2021. The Coyotes finished the year at 10-4-4, the most wins they have accomplished since joining the ranks of Division-I.  

The Coyotes had a true home field advantage last year with an 8-1 record in Vermillion. The eight wins are the most wins in a season at home since the 2004 season. USD cashed in 20 goals at First Bank & Trust Soccer Complex while limiting the visitor to just four goals. One of their bigger home wins came on Sept. 19 when the Iowa State Cyclones rolled into Vermillion. Alexis Mitchell scored the lone goal in that game and the Coyotes shutout the Cyclones for their first ever win over a Power 5 program.

In conference play, USD compiled five wins, tying them for most in a season since joining the Summit League. The Coyotes outscored their conference opponents 16-8 and qualified for the Summit League tournament for the second consecutive year and the third time in program history. At the end of the regular season, five Coyotes were named to the All-Summit team. The group of five were the most named since joining the league. Alexis Mitchell earned first-team honors and all-league recognition for the third straight season. Jordan Centineo, Abby Ostrem, Taylor Ravelo, and Emma Harkleroad were all named to the league's second team to round out the honors for USD.  

Offensively, the Coyotes reached new highs in shooting percentage and shots on goal average. South Dakota recorded a 14.3 shooting percent and a shots on goal average of 10.1 per game. Senior Jordan Centineo led the team with seven goals on the season including her first career hat-trick in a 5-0 rout of North Dakota State on Oct. 17. Senior Tiannah Moore also recorded a hat-trick in a 4-0 victory over St. Thomas on Oct. 1. It was the first time in the Division-I era and only the fourth time in program history the Coyotes have had two hat-tricks in one season.

South Dakota had one of its best seasons defensively in 2021 by only allowing 12 goals and limiting opponents to a 5.2 shot percentage. The Coyotes finished second in conference by recording 10 shutouts on the season. Goalkeeper Emma Harkleroad had one of the best seasons in net for USD. Harkleroad finished first in all of Division-I in save percentage stopping 88.9 percent of shots on goal. Harkleroad finished the year at 9-2-4 with seven shutout performances on the 2021 season and earned All-Summit second team honors along with Academic All-American first team.

USD had a good mix of young and veteran players in the fall season. 23 Coyotes were either freshman or sophomore while 13 were junior or senior level, including 4 fifth year seniors. Michael Thomas' group will get some extra work in with a spring schedule before preparing to break more records in the 2022 fall season.