MARQUETTE – A comeback attempt against one of the nation’s top NCAA Division II women’s soccer programs, Winona State, fell short in overtime for Northern Michigan University at the NMU Soccer Field on Sunday afternoon.

Wildcats’ head coach Matt Granstrand said the 3-2 defeat was a hard way to close out a solid performance from his team.

“It was a good battle, but a tough loss,” Granstrand said. “Winona’s consistently great every year, and we had a chance to beat them at home and earn a big win for our team.

“Someone had to win and someone had to lose, but it’s tough to be on the wrong end after working hard in such a good game.”

Winona State has represented the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in the NCAA tournament the past two seasons.

Their goalkeeper, Rachel Oleson, allowed just 16 goals in 22 matches last season, but the Wildcats were able to knock the ball past her twice on Sunday.

The first came late in the closing seconds of the first half after Winona kept possession in NMU’s zone for much of the first half.

Each teams took 19 shots and committed six fouls in that span, but it was a free kick by NMU’s Allyssa Milam that opened the scoring.

Milam sent her kick high and left past a diving Olesen and into the net to give NMU a lead seven seconds before halftime.

“There seemed to be a lot of fouls clouding the game and it was getting out of hand,” Granstrand said. “(Milam) took advantage of the situation with an outstanding shot. She hit it perfectly and it turned out to be a beautiful goal.”

NMU forward Tabitha Boze said Milam was the player she would want kicking in that situation.

“(Milam) has one of the strongest legs on our team,” Boze said. “A lot of the times we’ve been lofting the ball in the back but with that play being so far out, we were really working on driving the net. She didn’t hesitate and just took advantage of it, and it worked out.”

The momentum didn’t last long into the second half. Winona carved their way through the Wildcat zone in the opening seconds, setting up a shot by forward Abby Bohanski that pulled both Wildcat defenders to the right of their net.

A rebound off one of Northern’s defenders left NMU goalkeeper Caroline Glantz alone facing Winona’s Alyssa Reynolds, and the all-conference forward got the best of Glantz, slicing a kick to her left and in.

Granstrand said the Wildcats weren’t prepared for Winona’s pressure coming out of halftime.

“We’re still struggling to get over the hump of becoming a team that knows how to win games,” Granstrand said. “We play scared and tentative, and we played that way going into the second half.”

Glantz lit a fire under her teammates, pleading for help after the goal, and for 10 minutes that followed, WSU couldn’t muster a shot on net while the Wildcats had most of the possession.

With less than seven minutes remaining in regulation, Winona capitalized on a corner kick that was rebounded by defender Kenzie Rose and into the Wildcat net for a late one-goal lead.

The Wildcats didn’t go down quietly, however, as just five minutes later a skirmish in front of the Winona net that included three rebounds was finished by forward Carmen Villarruel to tie the game.

“A one-goal lead late in the game is one of the most dangerous positions for a team to be in,” Boze said. “If you allow one goal, than all of the momentum goes quickly to the other team and it happened for us. I think we were expecting to just score heading into overtime.”

Granstrand said the goal was relieving to keep his team alive late in the game.

“It was good to see the team staying with the game and staying with the play,” Granstrand said. “We’re never going to stop fighting, and that goal showed it. The hard part is, at some point we have to catch a break, and then mentally we’ll relax and play better for a full game.”

Granstrand alluded to a pair of kicks in the second half from his forwards Casey Durand and Paul Hafner that hit the crossbar which stuck in his mind as opportunities that could have won the game for NMU in regulation.

The missed chances proved to be costly in overtime, as NMU couldn’t generate a shot on net, while Winona’s forward Meg Riebau sored a kick high and left of Glantz for the game winning point.

Boze said it was a hard way to end the hard fought game.

“It seemed we had possession most of the extra play, and they got a quick break,” Boze said. “She fired the shot from about 30 yards out, and it was a great shot at the upper 90. There wasn’t much more we could do when it went off.”

The loss dropped the Wildcats to 1-2 on the season, after defeating Finlandia 11-0 in their season opener on Sept. 1, then falling to St. Cloud State on Sept. 4.

The ‘Cats will return to action next weekend with road trips to Bemidji State on Friday, Sept. 9, than moving on to the University of Minnesota Duluth on Sunday, Sept. 11.

NMU will open GLIAC play against Michigan Tech at home on Sept. 17.

“I like our team and we’re going to do well moving forward,” Granstrand said. “We have two more non conference games to work on our composure and not panicking. I’m not disappointed (with the loss), and we’re in a good spot as a team. I want the results to start becoming different, but we’re heading in a good direction and we always look forward to the next chance to get on the field.”

Ray Bressette can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 243. His email address is rbressette@miningjournal.net.