On Sunday, the Wildcats won a GLIAC game on the road for the first time, defeating Maryville 14-8.

Junior Graison Ringlever led NMU (2-6, 1-3 GLIAC) with six goals and two assists against the Saints, who are fielding a team for the first time this year. That gives Ringlever 21 goals this season, tops for the Wildcats.

Northern freshman Aleya Speas added three goals while two more freshmen each contributed two tallies — Katie Zarembski and Emily Renfrew. Speas now has 17 goals in 2019, tied with freshman Jessica Daniels for second on the team, while Renfrew has 13.

Sophomore teammate Tess Kostelec added a goal and an assist, while freshman Jessica Close had Wildcat highs with seven ground balls and six turnovers that she caused.

Aleya Speas

Renfrew also had three turnovers, whle Ringlever led the team with eight draw controls.

NMU freshman goalkeeper Cam Stilson made 10 saves.

The teams played a close first half even as Northern never trailed. That’s because the Wildcats scored the first two goals in the opening five minutes unassisted by Ringlever and Renfrew.

Maryville (1-7, 0-5) answered with two of its own in the next five minutes to knot the score, but NMU re-established a two-goal lead with scores just 20 seconds apart by Zarembski on a free position shot and Ringlever, again unassisted.

The teams exchanged goals for most of the rest of the first half, Speas and Ringlever scoring for NMU, before the Saints scored twice in the last 4 1/2 minutes to tie the score

The Wildcats put away this first conference road victory by starting the second half with eight unanswered goals, three coming from Ringlever each on a free position shot, including the go-ahead goal just 1:46 after the break.

Speas also had two in this string while Kostelec’s goal with 9:55 remaining made it 14-6. Maryville scored the game’s final two goals in the last four minutes but it mattered little in the outcome.

NMU, which broke a six-game losing streak with the victory, returns to action at 1 p.m. Sunday to play Lewis University in a GLIAC matchup in Romeoville, Illinois.

The Wildcats’ next home game in the Superior Dome is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, against another conference foe, Concordia-St. Paul. That game comes five days after Northern plays CSP in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.