Northern Michigan University’s Evelyn Flor, left, defends as Grand Valley State’s Alexa Morello dribbles the ball during the Wildcats’ GLIAC women’s soccer game against Grand Valley State at the NMU Soccer Field on Friday. (Journal photo by Travis Nelson)

MARQUETTE — After battling the second-ranked team in the country for nearly the entire first half, the Wildcats’ women’s soccer team came up short in a 4-0 loss against Grand Valley State at the NMU Soccer Field on Friday afternoon.

It was an even back-and-forth contest throughout the first half against the GLIAC’s traditional power — the Lakers have won the championship of the conference tournament in all 14 years the event has been offered.

NMU had two quality chances early on Friday from senior midfielder Caroline Halonen and freshman forward Ashley Koch.

Then with 5:03 left in the first half, GVSU broke the scoreless seal on the scoreboard with a goal in transition when a pass from sophomore forward Kennedy Bearden went to junior forward Greta Deloach.

NMU (2-3, 0-1 GLIAC) made it to halftime only trailing by that single goal as both teams had three shots in the half.

But things got away from the ‘Cats in the second half as the 2019 NCAA Division II national champions outshot them 11-0 and scored three more goals in the conference opener for both teams.

Northern goalkeeper Shenae Kreps finished with four saves while Lakers counterparts Callie Rich and Allison Frederick combined for one.

Games like these can provide insight about the state of a program, according to NMU head coach Jon Sandoval, while also showing what Northern aspires to be.

“I think the biggest takeaway from it is you just showed kind of the difference between the No. 2 team in the country and where we are,” Sandoval said. “I thought we played a solid 39 minutes in the first half, but in order to compete with a team like Grand Valley, and the No. 2 team in the country, you have to put that together for 90 minutes.

“That means doing your job for 90 minutes and not switching off and doing the little things correctly for that time period.”

GVSU (5-0) had four players score, a true example of the depth the Lakers have. It didn’t take them long after the start of the second half to extend the lead when redshirt sophomore Chantel Carranza scored in traffic assisted by freshman forward Taylor Reid just over 13 minutes in.

Another four minutes after that in the 63rd minute, senior defender Cecilia Steinwascher scored on a header off a corner kick, with assists going to sophomore midfielder Alexa Morello and freshman forward Alicia White.

The match was all but over from there, but GVSU added one more goal late in the 82nd minute by freshman midfielder Stephanie Sturgeon off an assist from senior defender Makenna Schoolman.

The loss wasn’t due to the Wildcats’ lack of effort and the team brought everything it could, Sandoval said. Going forward, there’s optimism that the ‘Cats can put it all together for 90 minutes in a high-profile, highly competitive type of match.

“(GVSU is) very clinical in what they do, and they were able to score goals from services, set pieces and crosses,” Sandoval said. “What that requires us to do is to be also terrific in those areas defensively, and we weren’t able to do that for the entire time period.

“I think the majority of their goals after the first one were from set pieces or services or headers. At this level, you cannot afford to miss marks and to miss defensive clearances in order to win a game, especially against a team like Grand Valley.”

Sandoval went on to mention that the team can think about this game for about 20 minutes, but the ‘Cats must have a short memory before Sunday’s match in Midland against Northwood. It’s a short turnaround, especially for a road trip, but there are positives that Northern will look to bring with them.

“Just the intensity that we came out with and the way that we were able to do our job for that first part of it, for the first 39 minutes or whatever it was,” Sandoval said. “I mean there’s a lot of positives in there, and I think if you finish one of those chances early that we had, then maybe this does turn into a different game.”

Travis Nelson can be reached by email at tnelson@miningjournal. net.