Kingsford’s Abbey Erickson, left, comes in to attempt to steal the ball from Marquette’s Aurora Mlsna on Wednesday evening in a girls high school soccer game played at Marquette Senior High School. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

MARQUETTE — In the past few seasons, Marquette and Kingsford always seem to have tight battles whenever they meet on the soccer field. Wednesday was another example of that.

After fighting the Flivvers to a 1-1 tie at Kingsford exactly two weeks earlier, the Redettes emerged with a 1-0 victory on the new artificial turf at Marquette Senior High School thanks to a first-half goal by Deni Peterson.

Kingsford had a chance to tie it late in the game, but Hannah Carlson’s point-blank shot trickled just wide of the net.

“We’re always tight with Kingsford,” Marquette head coach Jeff Collins said. “It’s always a battle both physically and mentally. We had some good chances in the first half and we started off slow in the second, but then we picked it up again and found the right combinations. Overall, I’m happy with how we played.”

For Flivvers head coach Jon Lorenzoni, the outcome was disappointing, but he was pleased with how his team kept attacking the Redettes until the end.

“They got the first goal, but I thought we regrouped well,” he said. “We did a much better job in the second half of spacing and communication and putting more pressure on them.

“We had a lot of chances, but just didn’t make the play. They gave it their all. It wasn’t due to a lack of effort. They played hard the whole way.”

Marquette had the advantage in the early part of the game, putting two decent shots on net. Kingsford had its first good opportunity with 26 minutes left in the opening half as the Flivvers went on a nice rush down the middle, but it was cut off by Marquette’s Abby Kroll.

Redette Sierra Carlson also had a shot go wide with 23 minutes left and had a partial breakaway with 16:55 left, but was tripped up by a Kingsford defender.

Marquette finally got on the board with 11:46 before intermission remaining when Peterson saw an opening in front of the net and beat the Kingsford goalie far corner.

“Deni made a really nice move with a stutter-step,” Collins said. “Our forward took their defender to the outside, which allowed Deni to go to the middle and she made a great goal.”

Kingsford had a chance to answer with 15 seconds remaining in the half, but Brooke Blaskowski’s cross pass was denied.

To open the second half, the Flivvers came out strong, generating three good scoring opportunities, two by Abbey Erickson. However, the Redettes recovered in time defensively to force Kingsford’s shots to sail wide.

Marquette had two good chances of its own to pad the lead, but a deep pass to Carlson was too far ahead of her, while a great individual effort by Lauren Kurzawa was blocked by the Kingsford defense.

The Redettes also kept the Flivvers at bay for the remainder of the half until about eight minutes remained when Hannah Carlson’s shot rolled past the corner post.

“Hannah made a terrific play to make space and made a great touch to herself and had a great chance 1-on-1,” Lorenzoni said. “The ball just didn’t bounce our way.”

Marquette hosts Iron Mountain Tuesday, while Kingsford plays in a tournament down in Waupaca, Wisconsin, Saturday.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.