Home field dashed for NMU women following loss
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MARQUETTE -- The dream of nabbing one of the home-field berths in the first round of the upcoming conference tournament is over for the women's soccer team at Northern Michigan University.
But the Wildcats will definitely be in Tuesday's first-round quarterfinals of the postseason in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
In Grand Rapids on Friday afternoon, NMU lost 3-2 at Davenport to fall to sixth place in the league. The top four teams host the next four teams in the quarters, and Northern has now fallen four points behind the teams tied for the final two home spots, Davenport and Saginaw Valley State.
And with one game remaining, the Wildcats can't make up that ground as a win is worth only three points.
NMU slipped to 8-4-5 overall and 5-4-4 in the GLIAC, good for 19 points.
Wisconsin-Parkside is just in front of Northern in fifth with 21 points, while Davenport and SVSU are tied for third with 23 points apiece. Davenport improved to 9-4-4 overall and 7-4-2 in the league with Friday's win.
NMU ends its regular season at second-place Grand Valley State at 1 p.m. today and is locked into fifth or sixth place regardless of that game and other games' outcome.
On Friday, Northern had its nine-game unbeaten streak snapped, a time when the Wildcats went 5-0-4 and climbed out of the depths of the conference after their 0-3 GLIAC start.
NMU was forced to play catchup after the Panthers broke the scoreless deadlock exactly 17 minutes in. That first goal was scored by Natalie Vance and came after a turnover from a Northern goal kick near midfield, according to a game account from NMU Sports Information.
Davenport moved the ball deep in the left corner, with Isabella Workman weaving through a pair of Northern defenders before she passed it to Vance inside the box.
Barely a minute later, the Panthers made it 2-0, converting a corner kick that Wildcats goalkeeper Carly Sides initially punched away. But the clearing attempt found the foot of DU's Ryan Whitford, who knocked it home.
Knowing the immediacy of the situation, NMU got right back to work.
Just about 13 minutes later with 13:48 left before halftime, Madison Bilbia got Northern on the board with her seventh goal of the season. After a free kick, the Wildcats' Riley Hill sent a ball toward the box that bounced past Davenport netminder Elizabeth Wolter. Bilbia was in behind and tapped it in to make it a one-goal game.
Then with 9:05 left prior to intermission, NMU converted off its own free kick. Gretchen Ellis delivered the ball into the box, and it worked around till Lily Senese got hold of it as she smashed it in the upper corner of the net to tie the score 2-2.
A tense deadlock for most of the second half was broken when, with 8:12 remaining, Whitford converted on a rebound of a blocked shot. The play started with Davenport's deep throw-in that was well defended, but the clearing attempt landed near a DU attacker, who took the initial shot.
The Panthers finished with a narrow 9-7 edge in total shots as the shots on goal were even, 5-5. Sides made two saves and Wolter three.
Addison Frantti was the only Northern player with multiple shots, having two, as one of hers and four of her teammates were also shots on goal -- one each by Ellis, Bilbia, Senese and Sole Corley.
The Wildcats held a 4-3 advantage in corner kicks, while Davenport was whistled for more fouls, 14-11, and was shown the game's single yellow card.
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Northern Michigan University's Madalyn Nissen, left, attempts a shot that is blocked by Michigan Tech's AK Puryear, center, during their GLIAC game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Oct. 18. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)