NMU soccer blanks Lake Erie for road win

PAINESVILLE, Ohio – Northern Michigan University soccer opened up a weekend on the road with a 4-0 victory over the Lake Erie Storm. NMU outshot the Storm 11-5 and owned the possession of the ball for the majority of the game. Eight different Wildcats earned points in the victory.

The victory pushes NMU to 3-4-1 overall and 1-4-0 in GLIAC play, while the Storm fall to 5-5-0 overall and 2-3-0 in conference action.

“It was a great win for us today,” said NMU head coach Matt Granstrand. “Lake Erie is a good team and its a tough place to play. It’s also good to have success after so many close games.”

Sophomore forward Paula Hafner opened the scoring in the 35th minute with her sixth goal of the season when she found the back of the net with assists to sophomore midfielder Wynona Maravilla and freshman defender Lindsey Tuggle.

The Wildcats continued to dominate possession in the first half but couldn’t manage to score before the two teams headed into the half with a 1-0 NMU lead.

NMU continued to own possession of the ball at the beginning of the second half and added to their lead with a score from sophomore Carmen Villaruel in the 61st minute with senior defender Kim Rietveld chipping in with an assist.

Villaruel extended the Wildcat lead shortly after with her second goal of the game, fifth on the season, in the 82nd minute when she took a pass from junior midfielder Helen Kiilunen and beat the keeper to put the score at 3-0.

A mere two minutes later freshman forward Danielle Defries gave the Wildcats a 4-0 lead with her first goal in her career. Senior defender Cheyenne Cecchini assisted with what proved to be the final goal of the game.

The Wildcat defense was strong the entire game as they only allowed one shot on goal to reach sophomore goalkeeper Caroline Glantz. The 4-0 shutout is Glantz’s first career shutout at Northern Michigan.

Hafner finished the game with a game high four shots with two of those shots being on goal.

Northern Michigan finishes out the weekend when they travel to Malone Sunday, Oct. 12 for a noon kick-off.

(Information Courtesy of NMU Athletics)