Northern Michigan University’s Brenda Musser, left, handles the ball in a Wildcats’ game earlier this season at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University women’s soccer team held onto a share of second place in the GLIAC with a win and tie over the last week in home games at the NMU Soccer Field.

The Wildcats blanked Davenport 2-0 before playing league-leading Grand Valley State to a scoreless deadlock.

Northern is 8-1-4 overall and 5-1-3 in the league, tied with Ferris State for second place as Ferris is also 5-1-3. Fourth-place Saginaw Valley State is nipping at their heels at 5-2-2.

GVSU is ahead of all of them at 7-0-2 in the GLIAC and is also 9-1-3 overall.

NMU remains at home this weekend to play two more conference foes, hosting Purdue Northwest at 1 p.m. Friday and Wisconsin-Parkside at 1 p.m. Sunday. Together, the games form Alumni Weekend as Sunday’s game is also Senior Day and SSA/Music Day.

The Wildcats finish their regular season with three games on the road — at Saginaw Valley State on Oct. 21, at Ferris State on Oct. 23 and at Michigan Tech on Oct. 28.

Here is a roundup of the recent games:

—————————-

NMU 2, Davenport 0

On Friday, Northern got back to its winning ways after registering a loss and two ties in its three previous games.

Rachael Erste and Brenna Musser each scored their fourth goals of the season for NMU at nearly opposite ends of the game.

“It was great to get this win and to get us back on track,” Erste said in a game account from NMU Sports Information. “We have to use this momentum for the next game and throughout the remainder of the season.”

“We are really proud of the way the team played today after some hard results the past two weekends,” Musser said to NMU SI. “We responded all week with intense practices and played like it in the game today.”

Teammates Molly Pistorius and Hannah Kastamo each fired “testers” in the opening two minutes, according to NMU SI.

And in the first 10 minutes, the Wildcats had five corner kicks as they would finish with all 11 taken during the contest.

Just after the fifth corner kick, Northern’s Calihan Bearden redirected the ball to Erste, who knocked it in to the bottom right corner of the net, according to NMU SI.

The Wildcats fired off 10 shots in the first 17 minutes and held a 16-0 advantage in total shots and 10-0 in shots on goal by halftime.

Although more scoring would’ve seemed inevitable in the second half, the scoreboard still read “1-0” until the final 11 minutes, when Musser got her team’s second goal with 10:56 left.

After receiving a pass from Isabelle Brusilow just inside the attacking third, Musser fired from far out near the left sideline, perfectly placing a kick over the keeper and nestling it into the far corner, according to NMU SI.

The Panthers got their only shot on goal late as Northern finished with a 22-1 total shots edge and 14-1 in shots on goal.

—————————-

NMU 0, Grand Valley State 0

On Sunday, Northern held a 13-3 total shots advantage and 3-2 edge in shots on goal but was unable to dent the twine against the No. 6 team in NCAA Division II.

“I’m really proud of the way our team came in confident and stuck to our game plan,” senior captain Natalie Stampfly said in an NMU SI account of the game. “Not the result we were hoping for, but this is the point in the season where we want to be playing our best soccer.

“We will continue to get better and come ready for next weekend.”

Musser led the NMU effort with five total shots, including two on goal.

Northern goalkeeper Shenae Kreps made two saves and seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

“We played a great standard today,” Kreps said in the NMU SI release. “We came out with a lot of confidence. We’ll build on this next weekend.”

Musser had the game’s first shot on goal as the ball nearly rolled between the legs of GVSU keeper Kendall Robertson, who made the save with her feet.

About 20 minutes in, Stampfly and Pistorius had a 2-on-1, but Pistorius’ shot skipped past Robertson just wide.

A few minutes after that, NMU’s Brooke Pietila had a look off a free kick that sailed inches over the crossbar with her team holding a 5-2 edge in first-half total shots.

Kreps had her biggest save four minutes into the second half, diving and getting her mitts on the ball.

Northern had the game’s third corner kick in the 59th minute after continuous pressure, but the shot was stopped.

The Wildcats also had consecutive corner kicks in the 76th minute, but the lone look was a header from Bearden that bounced just outside the net.

With six minutes left, the Lakers had their second look from the corner, but the Wildcats were able to clear the ball. Musser had a header in the box at the other end of the field that was also stopped.

NMU had an 8-1 total shots edge in the second half.

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