Northern Michigan University’s Brooke Pietila, right, dribbles the ball downfield while pursued by Saginaw Valley State’s Peyton Kennedy during their GLIAC women’s soccer game held at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University women’s soccer team is on the verge of locking up the GLIAC regular season title after tying and winning at home at the NMU Soccer Field last weekend.

With every team in eight-team conference playing one more game this week before the regular season ends, the Wildcats look like all they need is a tie to wrap up the No. 1 seed in the upcoming GLIAC Tournament.

NMU is 12-1-4 overall and 8-1-4 in conference games, good for 28 points. Both second-place teams, Grand Valley State and Michigan Tech, are 7-1-5 in the league with 26 points.

A tie in the Wildcats’ 3 p.m. Thursday home game against Michigan Tech (8-2-7 overall) would bump them to 29 points as a deadlock is worth one point in the standings. If GVSU were to beat Davenport that evening, the Lakers would also have 29 points as a win gets you three points.

But with the likely first tiebreaker being head-to-head, Northern has the advantage with a win and tie vs. Grand Valley, a 0-0 deadlock at home on Sept. 29 and a 1-0 victory at GVSU on Oct. 15.

However, NMU had to fight to come back and tie Michigan Tech 1-1 in their other meeting in Houghton on Oct. 6. In that game, league leading scorer Molly Pistorius scored in the last few minutes to knot a game the Huskies had led for most of the way.

Here is a roundup of last weekend’s action:

NMU 1,

Saginaw Valley St. 1

On Friday, there were no goals until the final two minutes when each team was able to get the ball into the other’s net.

It must’ve been frustrating for the Wildcats, who controlled possession for most of the contest and outshot SVSU 17-7 in overall shots and 9-4 in shots on goal. That included Northern’s big 12-4 overall shots advantage in the second half.

Both goalies were perfect for about 88 minutes, NMU’s Jillian Thompson making three saves and the Cardinals’ Kennedi Pugh eight.

Pistorius, Angelina Perritano and Brooke Pietila each had two shots on goal for the Wildcats, while teammate Madison Bilbia led the way with four total shots.

Much of the game was played around midfield, according to a game report from NMU Sports Information.

Northern had the first good look, a Pietila free kick in the 13th minute that was tipped away by Pugh.

NMU’s Allison Kroll headed the ball in the box directly to Pugh with three minutes left in the first half, with a similar scenario playing out in front of Thompson just before the halftime horn.

The Wildcats had the game’s first corner kick a minute into the second half with a ball from Kenna Alexander just missing, then Thompson had to come out of her net to stop an SVSU attacker who leaked behind the defense.

In the 66th minute, Pistorius sidestepped a defender to open up a chance, and after Sami Brown played a ball back to Bilbia, the shot sailed just over the crossbar.

Then all the scoring occurred.

NMU struck first, when on a Pietila free kick, Pistorius played a header to Perritano, who buried it in the net with 1:57 remaining, according to NMU SI.

Then with 41 seconds to go, the Cardinals’ Solana Kelly found the back of the net with an assist going to Madi Bajis to forge the tie.

NMU 1,

Ferris State 0

On Sunday, the Wildcats had an even more lopsided shots advantage despite just the one-goal difference.

NMU outshot the Bulldogs 24-4, including 13-2 in shots on goal as Thompson made both her saves for her league-leading 11th shutout of the season, while Ferris’ Lauren Kubacki was called on to stop 12 Northern shots.

Pietila went nuts with her shot-making, putting six of her seven shots on goal. Megan Kirby put both of her shots on goal, while Pistorius had four shots, Hannah Kastamo three and Brenna Musser two with the last three players each having one on goal.

But it was Kastamo who broke through for an NMU goal in the 64th minute, her sixth of the season but first in six games to give her a career high for goals in a season.

Before that, NMU rolled up a 5-1 shots advantage in the first 20 minutes, using two corner kicks to set up its offense, according to NMU SI.

Then around the 30-minute mark, a blocked clear sprung Pistorius down the right side with support. She sent a crosser to Pietila, who took an accurate shot that was saved by Kubacki.

Early in the second half, Pistorius just missed getting the first goal when her shot grazed the crossbar and bounced away. Kastamo followed it up with another crossbar clanker a few minutes later, but it must have foretold what would soon come.

Kastamo took a cross from Kenna Alexander near the midfield line as Kastamo lunged to head the ball past Kubacki.

The Wildcats actually made it 2-0 off a set piece, but officials called a foul in the box before it could count.

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