The women’s soccer team at Northern Michigan University married both those propositions together for a 2-0 victory over Ferris State at the Bulldogs’ home field in Big Rapids on Tuesday afternoon.

This quarterfinal matchup pitted No. 5 NMU vs. No. 4 Ferris in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.

With the victory, the Wildcats advance to the conference tourney semifinals to face another quarterfinal winner, No. 1 seed Grand Valley State, after those Lakers edged another set of Lakers, No. 8 Roosevelt, 1-0 also Tuesday.

This marks the sixth straight season NMU has advanced to the semis, giving the Wildcats a chance to reach their fourth straight league title match.

Northern Michigan University’s Madison Bilbia, front, gets position for the ball against Northwood's Emma Paparella during their college women’s soccer game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

As the top surviving seed, GVSU hosts the semifinals and finals this weekend. Both semifinals — the other will be No. 2 Wisconsin-Parkside vs. No. 3 Saginaw Valley State — will be played Friday late morning or afternoon, with the winners that day squaring off for the championship on Sunday.

In Tuesday’s other quarterfinals, Parkside blanked No. 7 seed Purdue Northwest 2-0, while SVSU needed two overtimes to defeat No. 6 Davenport 1-0.

Northern’s victory Tuesday marked its third straight shutout as the Wildcats improved to 7-7-5 after also going .500 in the GLIAC at 6-6-2. NMU has won four in a row and has an undefeated streak of five games.

Despite a game that was scoreless at halftime, there was a decent amount of offense. Ferris, which finishes at 8-5-6 and compiled an 8-3-3 record in the GLIAC, held a 16-13 edge in total shots as Northern had a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal.

Northern senior netminder Jillian Thompson made four saves as a pair of her senior teammates provided the Wildcats’ offense.

NMU only had two of the game’s eight corner kicks as each team was whistled for five fouls and no yellow cards were shown.

Though Ferris made a run to the NCAA Division II Tournament Final Four in 2022, the Bulldogs haven’t made it past the conference semis since.

Through the cold, wind and light snow on Tuesday, Northern had multiple chances to score before intermission. Freshman Addison Frantti hit the post about 30 minutes in, while FSU goalie Korinne Ihrke covered up a rebound that landed back in the box, according to a game account from NMU Sports Information. Later, NMU junior Madison Bilbia was stopped on a shot headed high into the net that Ihrke barely got a finger on to deflect away.

On her end, Thompson had a “great reactionary save” off a cross that turned into a header for the Bulldogs’ Katherine Welch at the back post.

Early in the second half, Northern again had a chance to score when senior Hannah Kastamo hit the post. But plainly, persistence paid off as Frantti and Kastamo combined to break the deadlock about a minute later and 4:38 into the second half.

That’s when Frantti worked her way into the box and slid a pass to Kastamo, whose shot hit the crossbar with a good enough angle to go into the net.

Kastamo and her teammates thought she accomplished a two-goal “brace,” beating Ihrke again after receiving a pass from a teammate, only to have the near-side official raise his flag signaling offside.

Again, though, persistence paid off for the Wildcats, as almost exactly 20 minutes after the first goal, a crossing ball by Bilbia was headed away by Ferris, but landed on the right foot of senior captain Kenna Alexander, who took the ball to the edge of the box and smacked it in.

Both senior goal scorers notched their sixth goal of the season, with no other Wildcat having more than three goals this season.

It was Kastamo’s third game-winning goal this season and 10th of her career, while Alexander scored a goal for the fifth straight game.

Thompson has been in the NMU net during these past three shutouts, giving her 19 clean sheets during her career.

Frantti’s assist was her fourth, matching Kastamo for the team lead in that category.

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.