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More than just the rivalry: Wildcats need women’s soccer win over Tech to extend unbeaten streak

Wildcats need women’s soccer win over Tech to extend unbeaten streak

By Steve Brownlee 6 min read

MARQUETTE -- This would be a bad time to blunt the momentum the women's soccer team at Northern Michigan University has built over the past month.

The Wildcats have come up with a six-match unbeaten streak, going 4-0-2 in that time, and are now just reaching the upper echelons of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

But not just for that reason, their game Sunday would be a bad time to go backwards, considering who the opponent is -- none other than Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech.

Northern hosts the Huskies at noon Sunday at the NMU Soccer Field, just for that fact making this matchup loom bigger than a single game in the standings.

That might be even more true this fall as Tech has struggled throughout the season, holding records of just 1-10-2 overall and 1-6-2 for ninth place in the GLIAC.

Compare that to NMU's 7-3-3 overall and 4-3-2 conference marks where the Wildcats are in fifth place, just a point out of fourth and two points out of third. They're even just six points out of the top spot held by Grand Valley State.

Attendance at the NMU Soccer Field is always free, while fans can livestream it through FloCollege, follow along with live stats provided at the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com, or subscribe to the official Wildcats women's soccer social media pages.

With only five games left in the regular season including Sunday, conference teams like Northern are scrambling for all the three-point victories -- and one-point ties if necessary -- they can get.

After the matchup with MTU, the Wildcats have a home weekend vs. sixth-place Wisconsin-Parkside and eighth-place Ferris State, then finishes with a road trip to third-place Davenport and front-running GVSU.

Defense has played a big part in both NMU's recent success and Tech's struggles this year.

For Northern's part, the Wildcats have posted three straight shutouts and five altogether this season. Goalkeeper Carly Sides has been in the NMU net for all of them, tied for the league lead in shutouts and ranked in the top five in the three other GLIAC goalie stats -- third in goals against at 1.00 per game, fourth in saves percentage at .790, and fifth in saves per game with 3.77.

"Defensively, we've been really tough to break down and to score on," Northern head coach Erin Egolf said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the game. "That's the defenders, our goalkeeping, and full team defending.

"We should take a lot of pride in that, and I think that's something that we've recognized. We didn't have very many shutouts in the first half of our season, (and now) were finding ways to keep people away from and out of our goal. We certainly want to continue that."

The Huskies kind of have the opposite problem -- their opponents' defense has been stifling. It's a nice way of saying MTU has scored just five goals in 13 games this season -- that's less than one goal every two games. But three goals have come in the past two games that includes Tech's only victory, a 2-0 home win over last-place Roosevelt on Oct. 9.

Also tying Purdue Northwest 1-1 on Sunday, that means the Huskies did just as well as Northern in the past week -- collecting four points for a win and a tie after Northern also deadlocked with Purdue NW, 0-0, and downed Roosevelt 4-0.

"We were fairly wasteful with our chances (against Purdue Northwest)," Egolf said. "We created a lot of really good chances and just couldn't find one.... We don't have to win every game by multiple goals. All it would have taken is one. And we were fairly dominant in that game (and) they didn't really trouble us too much.

"They were very scrappy, and they battled us, but we were the masters of our own destiny in that game, and we lost out on two points. So that was pretty disappointing.

"But to come back (on Sunday against Roosevelt) and see the response, which we've seen over and over this season from the group. It took us a little while to see that response come to fruition. I don't know if I've ever seen more shots in a game, like dangerous chances in a game, for one team, and we waited until the last 12 minutes to truly put the game out of reach, but then it came in a flurry."

NMU first wants to reach a top-four position in the GLIAC to achieve a first-round tournament game, while it is also ninth in the Midwest Region by the NCAA Power Index standard that will determine seeding and at-large NCAA Division II tournament bids.

"We still have to go one game at a time, but with five games left, we're in a great position, and we have to keep being competitive and putting good performances together," Egolf said. "I think we did see some really nice things in the Purdue Northwest game in terms of possession, and that's something we talked about massively after the Michigan Tech game (two weekends ago, a 4-0 win in Houghton).

"We have to keep the ball more, and we've talked about it all season, and we saw that against Purdue Northwest. And so overall, I'm pleased with the weekend."

Northern has also had frequent spurts of offense, scoring at least three goals in all four of the recent wins.

Senior captain Madison Bilbia has four goals and two assists in her last six games, sophomore Addison Frantti has four goals in the ‘Cats last four matches, freshman defensive midfielder Sole Corley three goals in the last three, and junior Alyse Daavettila a goal and two assists in her last three. 

Captain Madalyn Nissen has stepped up and scored the Wildcats’ two penalty kicks, Riley Hill has added a pair of assists in the past two contests, and fellow defenders Ava Buhlman and Irene Kiilunen pace the Wildcats in minutes played, playing a crucial role in keeping the ball out of the back of the net.

Story contents based on a Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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