Northern Michigan University’s Irene Kiilunen scores her second goal of the game and this season on this long free kick during a GLIAC women’s soccer game played against Davenport at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Sunday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The women’s soccer team at Northern Michigan University turned the tables on Sunday afternoon and it was a struggling Davenport team that paid the price.

Two days after national No. 3 Grand Valley State pounded the Wildcats 4-0, Northern put up a 4-0 victory over DU, both Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games played at the NMU Soccer Field.

“I’m so proud of the girls,” Northern head coach Erin Egolf said in an NMU Sports Information news release about the game as she earned her first home victory as head coach. “It was a tough result on Friday, and being able to come back, regroup and establish some dominance (Sunday) is a huge testament to their mentality. This wasn’t a result that happened by accident … they put together a full 90 minutes of good soccer.

“This was our first game this season where we’ve been ahead to start, and it’s a different mentality when you’re leading vs. when you’re chasing the game. You could see from the first whistle today that we were going after it…. Our girls did a great job of establishing ourselves early in this game.”

In Sunday’s win, sophomore defender Irene Kiilunen scored her first two goals of the season, each coming on a free kick from a nearly identical spot each time.

They were just a small part of an offensive barrage as Northern held a 23-11 advantage in total shots and 11-5 in shots on goal. That was even as NMU only had a small 6-5 edge in corner kicks, though the Panthers committed nearly twice as many fouls, 17-9, with each team shown one yellow card.

The Wildcats improved to 2-2 in the league and 2-3-3 overall, while Davenport slipped to 1-2 and 1-4-2.

“We took a lot of responsibility on the ball, and when we got to the final third, we didn’t settle,” Egolf said. “We got great runs into the box on our first and third goals, we had great movement off the ball, and we didn’t let them out when we were defending.

“We got to spend a lot of time in their half thanks to our defense, which in turn led to a lot of offense.”

While Kiilunen scored on long-range free kicks, Addison Frantti and Hannah Kastamo set each other up for the other two goals.

The first goal came before the game was 90 seconds old. Northern’s Gretchen Ellis played a perfect header to Frantti behind the defense and near the left post. The latter corralled the ball, playing a cross into the box and at the right foot of Kastamo, who converted from in close, according to NMU SI.

With goalkeeper Carly Sides notching her first collegiate shutout while making five saves, the Wildcats didn’t need any more goals.

But they were happy to take them. While it was still 1-0, the Panthers almost converted a corner kick, sending the ball into the box with a shot that went just above the crossbar. Two minutes later, NMU’s Madison Bilbia had a great run down the right side and fired a curling ball that went just high of the net, too.

Goal No. 2 came in the final 10 minutes of the first half from a Kiilunen free kick, sending a long boot toward the DU goal. A Panthers defender went up to clear the ball, but instead redirected it into the net.

The teams went into halftime 2-0 and it stayed that way more than 20 minutes into the second half.

At that time, Kastamo paid back Frantti for her earlier assist. Kastamo anticipated a pass back to a Davenport defender, intercepting it deep in Panther territory, then sliding a pass from the left side of the box to the middle and a wide-open Frantti, who beat DU netminder Elizabeth Wolter one on one.

Kiilunen earned her two-goal brace on another deep free kick in the final two minutes, delivering the ball in the box and bouncing it past the outstretched Wolter.

A good-sized crowd just about completely filled the bleachers around the field, something Egolf appreciates.

“It means more than I can ever put into words,” she said. “We’ve had a great crowd for every game this season; even when the weather is bad they turn out, and that support means more than they know.

“Home-field advantage is a very real thing, and the more people you see cheering on our team, our girls say it gives them a huge boost.” 

Kastamo finished with six shots as she was one of five Wildcats with two shots on goal, joining Kiilunen, Bilbia, Kenna Alexander and Olivia Moreno.

Frantti and Kiilunen each have two goals this season, with Frantti leading NMU in scoring as she also has two assists for six points.

Northern continues a five-game homestand by hosting Ferris State at 1 p.m. Friday and Saginaw Valley State at noon Sunday. At 2-0-1 in the GLIAC, Ferris is one of three league teams without a loss, while SVSU is 1-2 in the conference.

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