ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Machine used their experience to shut out the Nebraska Stampede 50-0 in their home opener in front of a crowd of 219 at James Griffin Stadium in St. Paul Saturday night. 

The game was a rout early in the first quarter when fullback Yolanda Searcy scored on a five-yard rush into the end zone. Quarterback Kim Miller converted the two-point conversion to give the home team the early 8-0 lead.

After holding the Stampede to a three-and-out on the next possession, wide receiver Danielle Thompson scored on a five-yard rush and followed with the conversion, making it 16-0.

Machine rookie running back Lisa Bastien took over Abby Krause, who injured her knee during a punt return just before the first quarter ended. Bastien showed veteran confidence with touchdown runs of 12 and 62 yards to increase the Machine lead to 30-0 midway through the second quarter.

Searcy took a 15-yard pass into the end zone for the score, which was followed up with a 24-yard pass completion by wide receiver Catima Wilson with 1:43 left in the half. At halftime, the score was Minnesota 43, Nebraska 0.

Nebraska coach Rex Johnson got his team to calm down during the half. The Machine were held scoreless in the third quarter. While Johnson’s team did not score, progress from the young team was clearly shown.

Machine running back Melisa Schlueter scored the only points in the final period on an 11-yard touchdown run. It was the game’s final score.

“Everybody on the Stampede received an education in intensity today. We gotta bring focus to the field and play every play. You don’t get to take any plays off,” said Johnson. “We learned that a little bit at halftime. We have to sustain blocks because one good hit doesn’t finish the block, and we need to work on explosiveness.”

He hoped the game would serve as a lesson for his young team so they improve and gain confidence.

“They’ve been bouncing around for two weeks excited and invincible. It’s always the best time of the season when everybody’s undefeated. Now we need to sit back and look at the video and actually give them a chance to see what we have been talking about. It was a good learning experience,” he added.

Machine head coach Dann Lickness was very complimentary towards his opponent.

“They just need to keep on practicing and playing. With them being in the first year and they are pretty basic. Some of our girls have been playing for seven or eight years, so it’s a major difference,” he said.

Regarding his own team, Lickness was satisfied with the outcome but still sees areas for improvement.

“I thought they did very well defensively. They did everything the way we wrote it up for them to play. Offensively we still have some things to work on. We have to get better every week. Lisa Bastien looked amazing. In practice I was wondering if I should even play her but when Abby got hurt I had to play her,” he added.

“It was pretty exciting. I just wanted to get the ball and go and do the best that I could,” she said. “I pulled my calf so I’m injured and they were worried about that. I just had to stick with it. When I’m running I don’t feel the pain, but I’m sure I’ll feel it tomorrow."

Bastien was the game’s leading rusher with 8 rushes, 124 yards and 2 touchdowns.

“It was pretty exciting. I just wanted to get the ball and go and do the best that I could,” she said. “I pulled my calf so I’m injured and they were worried about that. I just had to stick with it. When I’m running I don’t feel the pain, but I’m sure I’ll feel it tomorrow."

Machine quarterback Kim Miller threw 4-for-9 with 76 yards and two touchdowns. Miller and linebacker Mary Wallraff each recorded five tackles for the home team. Stampede statistics were not available. 

Stampede president Julie Johnson was not pleased with the outcome of the game, but was gratified in seeing the progress her team made in the second half. 

“I’ve seen a lot of progress out of these girls from a group of 30 who have never stepped foot on the field,” she said. “They understood that their execution was suffering a little bit and they made the right adjustments. In the second half, they came out and executed cleaner, so we’ll just have to learn from what we’ve done today. I expect that they’ll come back and work harder every time and that we’ll never see a score like that again. For a first year team with all the rookies, they learned a great deal and the next game I think they’ll come out and understand the game.” 

The Machine (1-0) travel to St. Louis to take on the Slam (0-0) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT.

Nebraska (0-1) will travel to the Iowa Thunder (0-0) for a 5 p.m. CT game on Apr. 24 after their bye week.