Northern Michigan University’s Hannah Kastamo, right, works to keep the ball away from Saginaw Valley State’s Ryleigh Gray during their GLIAC women’s soccer game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Sunday. Kastamo had a goal and assist to give her four goals and an assist in her past three games. (Photo courtesy of NMU)

MARQUETTE — The women’s soccer team at Northern Michigan University built a 3-0 lead early in the second half, but couldn’t hold on and had to settle for a 3-3 tie against Saginaw Valley State at the NMU Soccer Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Wildcats are tied for third in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at 3-2-1, though the team they’re tied with, Ferris State, has played one fewer game. NMU is also 3-3-4 overall, while SVSU is right behind Northern at 2-2-1 GLIAC and 4-3-2 overall.

The Wildcats had a tailwind of 20-30 mph in the first half, which must’ve made a difference as they built a 2-0 lead.

“We can all talk about how the wind was a factor, but at the end of the day (our team) switched off,” Wildcats head coach Erin Egolf said in a game account provided by NMU Sports Information. “We thought the game was over, we stopped connecting passes and we stopped defending organized.

“We gave this game away, which is super unfortunate, because a six-point weekend would’ve put us in a good position going into the second half of conference.”

NMU had a 7-1 advantage in shots in the wind-aided first half, including 6-0 in shots on goal. The Cardinals turned the tables in the second half, outshooting Northern 9-2 overall and 6-1 in shots on goal. That made it a final 10-9 SVSU advantage in total shots, but 7-6 NMU in shots on goal.

In addition, the Wildcats took eight of the game’s 11 corner kicks, though they were whistled for more fouls, 7-4, with no yellow cards shown.

The all-Northern first half started in the 11th minute with Hannah Kastamo finishing off a three-player cooperative effort.

NMU’s Ava Buhlman threw the ball in to teammate Addison Frantti, who returned it immediately, then Buhlman sent a long, curling cross at the goal. Kastamo was near enough to head it in.

About 13 minutes later, the Wildcats forced a turnover near midfield, with Kastamo and Madison Bilbia on the counterattack. Kastamo played a perfect through ball to the far side to Bilbia, who was one-on-one to beat SVSU goalkeeper Lainey Garbarz.

After the teams changed ends for the second half, Northern kept the advantage, and about 5 1/2 minutes in, NMU’s Kenna Alexander made a corner kick into a scrum of players from both teams. The ball squirted out to the Wildcats’ Irene Kiilunen, who cranked the ball toward the net and in.

Then the Cardinals started getting busy.

Less than seven minutes after Kiilunen scored, Gray found Emily Kolodin with a perfectly placed long pass. Kolodin chased it down outside the box, playing a cross to the far post to Madi Bajis for the easy knock-in.

Less than eight minutes later, in the 65th minute, SVSU pulled within one after a corner kick. Sophia Zalucki made the kick to the back post, with a cross connecting with Maddie White for the score.

And the comeback was complete with just 1:01 left after some Wildcats’ confusion. A clear by Bajis sent Lauryn Fracassi and Kolodin on the run against a Wildcat defender. Northern’s Ava Buhlman pulled away to let goalie Carly Sides clear the ball, but her clearance was deflected by a NMU defender with the ball going right to Kolodin, who had a wide open net.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.