Wildcat women blanked on a weekend vs. GLIAC’s best
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MARQUETTE -- The women's soccer team at Northern Michigan University lost twice last weekend to open its season in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Playing at the NMU Soccer Field, the Wildcats fell to nationally ranked Grand Valley State 3-0 and then to Saginaw Valley State 2-0.
Standing at 3-2-1, Northern hits the road for three weeks, playing five league matches in that time. The odyssey begins in Chicago against Roosevelt at 1 p.m. EDT Friday, followed by a game in Kenosha, Wisconsin, against Wisconsin-Parkside at 1 p.m. EDT Sunday.
The trip wraps up with the first meeting this season at Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech in Houghton at noon on Sunday, Oct. 4. The rematch in Marquette will be played two weeks later on Sunday, Oct. 18.
NMU's next home game is at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, against Purdue Northwest.
Here are details from last weekend's games:
Grand Valley 3, NMU 0
On Friday afternoon at the NMU Soccer Field, the Wildcats couldn't dent the net against the No. 5 Lakers, who got off 10 shots each half and finished with a 20-6 edge in total shots and 7-2 in shots on goal.
NMU goalkeeper Carly Sides made four saves as the Lakers earned eight of the game's nine corner kicks.
"I thought Friday we played well for large spells of the game," Northern head coach Erin Egolf said in an NMU Sports Information news release detailing Sunday's game. "We played well on Friday, had a couple of chances of our own, but we knew Grand Valley was going to be a good side, and they were, but I still liked the fight from our team."
Sides and the Northern defense kept GVSU off the scoreboard for more than 40 minutes, despite having a gusty wind in their faces during the first 45 minutes.
The Lakers might've used that wind to break the scoreless draw when Acadia Murphy knocked in a free kick taken 15 yards inside the NMU half in the 42nd minute.
Grand Valley (3-1-1) didn't need much time after the break to make it 2-0 on a Sonya Mehta shot 4:28 into the second half.
Scoring was rounded out by the Lakers' Ava Kozak with a goal in the 77th minute.
A half-dozen players took Northern's six shots, with shots by Irene Kiilunen and Izzy Armstrong on target. Riley Hill had a shot that just sailed over the bar.
Joining Sides in playing all 90 minutes were Kiilunen and Hill, both defenders.
SVSU 2, NMU 0
On Sunday afternoon at the NMU Soccer Field, the Wildcats played the Cardinals (4-2, 2-0 GLIAC) almost evenly statistically. SVSU finished second last year in the GLIAC, and was picked to repeat that place this season.
Saginaw Valley only held a 16-15 edge in total shots, including 6-4 in shots on goal, while getting six corner kicks to Northern's four as the Cardinals were whistled for 13 fouls to six for NMU.
The score was just as even, 0-0, till the 60th minute as SVSU broke through with a goal by Jaidyn Veldhouse with 30:59 left and another by Emma Bradley with 24:43 to go.
"(Sunday) I thought we were a little bit flat," Egolf said as relayed by NMU SI. "You can't miss that many chances in front of goal and expect a win, so that was disappointing."
Among NMU's 15 shots and four on goal, Madison Bilbia had three shots with two on target, while Sole Corley also had three shots. The other shots on goal came from Addison Frantti, who had two total shots, and Marquette Senior High School product Isabella Lorens.
"We had so many (chances), and they fell to different people," Egolf said. "It just seemed like (Sunday) wasn't our day, but now we have a whole week to work on that before we go play again.
"You can’t let teams off the hook like that. Goals are how you win games, and when you don't score, it's hard to be in games. We certainly created enough ... we just didn't have the end product, which was disappointing, so we have to find that."
Story contents based on two Northern Michigan University Sports Information press releases reviewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.