Wildcat women’s soccer not fazed by change of field
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RACINE, Wis. -- Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays the couriers of the women's soccer team at Northern Michigan University.
At least the rain part was true on Sunday afternoon when the Wildcats had a quick change of field due to wet conditions and still defeated Wisconsin-Parkside 3-0.
The game was originally scheduled for the grass at Wood Road Field in Kenosha, but was moved to an artificial turf field in nearby Racine at Pritchard Park. The NMU Sports Information report on the game stated that officials said the grass field became a dangerous surface with all the heavy rain the area sustained.
No matter, Northern made the most of its chances -- despite being outshot 14-8 in all attempted shots, the Wildcats turned that statistic on its head with a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal, the shots a goalkeeper actually must stop to keep a goal from being scored.
That doesn't even mention the difference on the scoreboard, where Northern did all its damage before halftime.
Senior captain Madison Bilbia scored her first two goals of the season by the time the game was 30 minutes old, then sophomore Lily Senese knocked home an insurance tally in the 36th minute, just under 10 minutes before halftime.
NMU netminder Carly Sides made that stand up, fending off all those shots and needing to only make one actual save for the shutout. Actually, she was joined by four defenders who played all 90 minutes just like Sides -- Riley Hill, Ava Buhlman, Irene Kiilunen and Madalyn Nissen.
The Wildcats had struggled with offense in three previous conference games, though they had been shut out by the two best teams in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference -- Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State.
They finally broke through in their 268th minute of league competition, but it was too late to avert a 2-1 loss at Roosevelt on Friday.
On Sunday, it took Northern less than five minutes to get on the board against Parkside, which entered the game undefeated in the GLIAC. Not only that, but the Rangers had posted four straight shutouts, three against conference squads.
Now Parkside stands 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the league, while the Wildcats are 4-3-1 overall and 1-3 in the GLIAC.
"What a way to bounce back after a disappointing game on Friday," Northern head coach Erin Egolf said in the NMU SI report. "That's the response we needed, and we got it. Great performance.
"We've seen it from this group, we can compete at a high level, and today we showed that.
"(Bilbia) got us off the mark with a stellar goal early in the game, then to see her back herself again later in the first half was tremendous. She's done so much work this season and has been a threat in every game, so nice to see her rewarded.
"Lily added another quality goal, and then we played a tough second half to shut out. Parkside is a good team, and they competed well, but we earned that win and clean sheet (shutout) today.
"We have to take this performance and apply it to every game moving forward. Tremendously proud of the group."
Parkside also took four of the game's six corner kicks, and NMU was whistled for more fouls, 16-13. Each team was shown one yellow card.
Bilbia's first goal, scored 4:47 in, finished off a great long ball from teammate Emma Kastamo, according to NMU SI. Bilbia gathered the ball on the left side and cut to the middle before hammering the ball home off her right foot.
On Senese's goal, she found a loose ball from a deep free kick from Hill.
Bilbia finished with three shots, all of them on goal, while Senese did the same with her two shots. The Wildcats' Gretchen Ellis also had two shots, with one on goal, while Sole Corley's lone shot was on goal.
NMU has two more weeks on the road before returning home. Northern travels to Detroit to take on Wayne State at 3 p.m. Friday, then starts heading back north with a stop at University Center between Saginaw and Bay City to take on SVSU at 1 p.m. Sunday.
There's also a game in Houghton against Michigan Tech on Sunday, Oct. 4, before the Wildcats return home for five straight games, starting with Purdue Northwest at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9.
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From left, Northern Michigan University players in white uniforms, Paige Sundman, Malaina Huemann, Taylor Hon and Beckett Ferry (partly hidden) get in position for a Wildcats' corner kick during an exhibition game played against Wisconsin-Stevens Point at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Aug. 24. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)