NMU women’s soccer looks to capitalize back home
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MARQUETTE -- It must be great for the women's soccer team from Northern Michigan University to be home again this weekend.
But then again, they've tasted so much success on the road, maybe not.
The Wildcats are coming off a five-game road trip to begin a similar-length five-game homestand, having moved up in the standings of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
NMU was 3-1-1 on the road, all vs. league teams, defeating Wisconsin-Parkside, Saginaw Valley State and Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech, while tying Wayne State and falling by a single goal to Roosevelt.
Starting out in eighth place in the 10-team league, Northern has risen into a tie for fifth place at 6-3-2 overall and 3-3-1 in the conference with 10 points, just a single point in back of fourth-place Wayne State and two points behind third-place Parkside.
The most recent games encompass a four-game unbeaten streak where the Wildcats have outscored their opposition 12-2, including a pair of shutout wins.
They've moved into ninth place in the Midwest Region rankings compiled by the United Soccer Coaches, their same ranking as in the NCAA Power Index. The only GLIAC teams ahead of NMU in the USC are Grand Valley State at No. 1 and Wayne State at No. 6.
Northern's most recent game was Sunday's 4-0 blasting of MTU, a team that's only scored two goals this season but also is part of the big U.P. rivalry.
"Going into a rivalry game means a little bit more," Northern head coach Erin Egolf said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend's games. "We needed to go in and establish ourselves, and the end result was good.
"I think we were a little bit slow to start, and (Tech) threw everything they had at us in the first 15 minutes. Fortunately for us, we didn't concede, but they didn't make it easy on us.
"Once we got comfortable in the game, after that first 15 minutes, we were the better team, and we scored a lot of nice goals to show for it. So yeah, really happy with the win and with the result. It was much needed."
Northern hosts eighth-place Purdue Northwest (4-5-2, 2-4-1 GLIAC) at 3 p.m. Friday and ninth-place Roosevelt (1-7-3, 1-5-1 GLIAC) at noon Sunday.
Both games are free to attend at the NMU Soccer Field and can be streamed through FloCollege. Or visit the Wildcats athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the women's soccer schedule for links to live video, live statistics and previews.
"We've got a couple more games this weekend that are going to be super important as we look to finish this back half of our conference," Egolf said. "But yeah, I'm thrilled for the girls. They were excited, as they should have been.
"It's always nice to win on the road, especially against your rival team. I'm proud of them for what they were able to accomplish on Sunday."
After the opening matches of the conference season, head coach Egolf challenged her team to step up offensively, and they have delivered.
Senior captain Madison Bilbia has four goals in the four-game unbeaten stretch, Addison Frantti notched a hat trick and earned GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors after her performance against Saginaw Valley State, and NMU has gotten offensive contributions from midfielders Sole Corley and Gretchen Ellis.
Defense has contributed, too, according to NMU SI, and the Wildcats are getting sound defending from Ellis, Ava Buhlman, Riley Hill and Madalyn Nissen, to go with the top-shelf goaltending from Carly Sides.
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Northern Michigan University's Caroline Reynolds, left, passes the ball during a college women's soccer game played against St. Cloud State on Aug. 28 at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)