Northern Michigan University's Caitlyn Trombley, right, collects the ball as Ferris State's Emily Mergener closes in during the first half of their GLIAC women's soccer game played April 9 at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Journal photo by Ryan Stieg)

MARQUETTE — On Senior Day for the Northern Michigan University women’s soccer team it was a sophomore who kicked in the winning goal that should insure a home playoff game to start the upcoming GLIAC Tournament.

Sophomore Brenda Musser broke a 2-2 tie in the 55th minute of Sunday’s game vs. Wisconsin-Parkside in the Superior Dome and the Wildcats held on for a 3-2 victory.

Junior Caroline Halonen, NMU’s leading goal scorer this season, set up her teammate by sending the ball deep into Parkside territory from midfield, according to an account from NMU Sports Information.

With Rangers goalkeeper Izzy Guyer coming to the top of the box to defend, Musser found the ball and kicked it in.

Halonen has nine of the Wildcats’ 21 goals this season as Musser is second with three.

With Northern’s regular season closing Sunday, NMU improved to 6-2-1 overall and in the GLIAC, good for third place as all but one other league team still has at least one game still to go.

While league leader Ferris State has a near-perfect 7-0-1 record — the Wildcats gave the Bulldogs their only blemish with a scoreless tie several weeks ago — Ashland sits second at 6-1-1.

Right behind Northern is Michigan Tech at 4-3-1 and Grand Valley State at 3-1-1 as the GLIAC Tournament, whose format has yet to be announced, usually includes eight teams with the top four earning home quarterfinal berths.

Regardless of where the Wildcats finish, the six wins is their most since 2015 and this year was accomplished in seven fewer matches, NMU Sports Information reports.

Sunday’s game started well for Northern as Halonen knocked home a free kick six yards from the top of the box in the sixth minute.

Less than five minutes before halftime, sophomore teammate Evelyn Flor took possession of the ball after a Parkside player intercepted an NMU pass but tripped, losing control. Flor was there, 18 yards out from the goal, and kicked it into the left side of the net, almost exactly where Halonen kicked hers.

Despite time running down in the half, Parkside’s Suly Perez kicked in her first goal of the season about two minutes later to make it 2-1 NMU at halftime.

The Rangers quickly tied it, just 47 seconds into the second half, on another first goal of the season, this time by Myah Strokosch.

About nine minutes after Parkside forged the tie, Musser made it a happy Senior Day for Northern seniors Allie Jones, Kiera Hau and Andrea Sekloch. All three started Sunday as Hau had two shots.

Despite the close finals score, NMU held a dominating 32-5 margin in shots, including just two by UWP in the second half. In addition, Northern had all seven corner kicks taken.

Halonen finished with nine shots as Flor, Musser and Isabelle Brusilow had three apiece.

Jones was in the NMU net for the 49:02 before Shenae Kreps finished the game. Neither had a save.

The Wildcats await the final four games of the season to be played Thursday through Saturday before an expected announcement of GLIAC tourney pairings. The opening quarterfinals are expected to be played next Tuesday, with the semifinals Friday, April 30, and championship game on Sunday, May 2.

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