Northern Michigan University’s Hannah Kastamo, left, tries to get the ball by Michigan Tech's Anna Syracuse during their GLIAC game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Oct. 12. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The women’s soccer team at Northern Michigan University has guaranteed itself a date on the road in exactly one week when the postseason tournament kicks off in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The Wildcats are locked into fifth or sixth place, depending on the outcome of this week’s games, meaning a road trip to either the No. 3 or 4 seed for the upcoming tourney that opens with quarterfinals among the top eight teams at campus sites next Tuesday.

That comes after NMU swept its final two home games over the weekend, slamming seventh-place Roosevelt 5-1 and edging past Wisconsin-Parkside 1-0 to leave the Rangers tied for second place.

“For us to come out and get a positive result on Friday and then follow it up with that performance (on Sunday), it’s really great,” Wildcats head coach Erin Egolf said in an NMU Sports Information news release about Sunday’s game.

The Wildcats and Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech have just one game left, while the league’s other seven teams have two games remaining.

That mean Northern can’t rise about its current position, fifth place, as it has 17 points with a 5-6-2 conference record and 5-7-5 overall.

With wins worth three points and ties a single point, NMU can’t quite catch fourth-place Ferris State’s 21 points, but could be caught by sixth-place Davenport, which with 13 points has a potential six points available to jump the Wildcats.

Northern’s remaining game is on the road in Hammond, Indiana, to face eighth-place Purdue Northwest at 1 p.m. EST Thursday. Purdue NW needs a win or a pair of ties in its final two games to lock up the last tourney spot by shutting out last-place MTU.

Here are details about the Wildcats’ games over the weekend:

NMU 5, Roosevelt 1

On Friday morning, the Wildcats apparently took advantage of their northerly locale on a breezy, rainy and barely-above-freezing day along Lake Superior.

Northern outshot their guests from Chicago by a whopping 27-11 margin on all shots, though the advantage was smaller at 11-7 in shots on goal. There was no wind advantage between the halves, NMU holding a 14-6 total shots edge in the first half, 13-5 in the second half.

The Wildcats also took nine of the game’s 10 corner kicks as Roosevelt committed more fouls, 10-7, with no yellow cards issued.

Northern senior goaltender Jillian Thompson was matched by Lakers counterpart Roxana Herrera with six saves apiece, though their goals allowed were radically different.

NMU wasted little time taking advantage of superior offensive chances, scoring just before the game was five minutes old when senior Kenna Alexander sent a corner kick into the box that eventually bounced around to teammate Madison Bilbia. The latter played the ball to Alyse Daavettila, who surefooted a shot in for her second goal this season.

It became 2-0 with a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the first half when Northern’s Lily Senese stopped the ball near Roosevelt’s goal and gave it to Addison Frantti, who knocked it in, according to NMU SI.

With the score still 2-0 coming out for the second half, Roosevelt tried to make a game of its less than seven minutes after play restarted when the Lakers’ Daisy Hernandez-Loya booted home her fifth goal this season, cutting Northern’s lead to just one.

But that lasted less than two minutes as NMU’s Hannah Kastamo stole the ball and made a terrific individual effort to regain the two-goal lead.

The Wildcats added two final scores each coming about 10 minutes after the previous one by Alexander on a penalty kick and by Gretchen Ellis getting her first goal this fall after a pass from Olivia Moreno and Kastamo.

Eight Northern players had multiple shots, led by Kastamo with five, while seven players had at least one shot on goal, including two each by Kastamo, Ellis, Daavettila and Marena Maceroni.

NMU 1, Parkside 0

On Sunday morning, the Wildcats celebrated Senior Day with what sounded like a brunch date with the Rangers, an intense brunch date, though.

Alexander, Thompson, Kastamo, Moreno and Addison Wargo were the celebrated seniors.

Alexander scored Northern’s goal while Thompson made six saves for the shutout.

“Kenna’s goal was an encapsulation of the entire team’s performance (on Sunday),” Egolf said to NMU SI. “It was super gritty and tough, and everyone gave everything they had. I’m really happy for them. 

“This group has put a lot of building blocks in place that we want future teams to be able to springboard off of.

“It’s been great getting to know those (senior) kids; they care a lot and have given a lot to this program, and for our team to get this win on Senior Day is a great ode to them.”

It was also the Wildcats’ first full two-win weekend sweep of the season, as they previously came as close as a win and tie the first weekend of October.

Despite a scoreless first half, play was intense, according to NMU SI, on a windy, 36-degree day.

Even though Parkside wouldn’t score, the Rangers held an 18-10 edge in total shots as Northern actually had a narrow 7-6 advantage in shots on goal. Parkside also got seven of the game’s 11 corner kicks and had more fouls, 7-4, while NMU was issued the only yellow card in the final three minutes.

A pair of Northern shots hit posts during the first half, Kastamo hitting the crossbar and Alexander the left post.

“We had a great first half,” Egolf said. “I thought we put them under a lot of pressure and we defended well, and the message (at halftime) was to come out and have that same performance in the second half, and we’ll walk away happy.”

Happy came not quite 10 minutes into the second half when Alexander connected. Following several headers, the ball bounced into the box and Alexander settled it on the ground with a hard enough strike to beat Parkside netminder Tristen Cross.

Not long after, Northern almost made it 2-0 after Kastamo stole the ball from a Rangers defender. Cross attempted a clear, deflecting off Kastamo, and Bilbia chased it down but couldn’t get to it before the ball rolled out of bounds.

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