Women’s Soccer Earns Trip to GLIAC Championship With 1-0 Victory

Courtesy: NMU

BIG RAPIDS, Mich – For the first time in program history the Northern Michigan University Women’s Soccer team is heading to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament Championship match.

The No. 3 seed Wildcats, winners of five-straight, earned the title-match nod when they defeated the No. 2 seeded Eagles 1-0 on Friday afternoon in the GLIAC Semifinal match held on the campus of Ferris State University.

ALL YOU NEED IS ONE

For NMU, the game-winning goal came in the 35th minute.

A foul on Ashland led to a Wildcat free kick. The free kick from Brooke Pietila went into the box and was headed into the air. The ball then found the foot of Aidan Senior who dished it out to her right to Caroline Halonen who scored the goal.

The goal for Halonen was her 11th on the season and in the NMU record books tied her for fifth in goals in a season with 11 and moved her to seventh in career goals with 22.

The 1-0 score held for the rest of the match as the Eagles were unable to answer with a goal of their own.

STAT LEADERS

When it came to shots it was a tale of two halves for both teams. The Wildcats outshot Ashland 12-4 in the first half but the Eagles took a 9-1 advantage in shots in the second half. Both teams finished with 13 shots each as well as each having four shots on goal.

A match-high four shots were tallied by Halonen with two on target and a goal. Rachael Erste and Isabela Cardoso were next with three shots each.

Senior took one shot and earned an assist on the lone goal of the match. Natalie Stampfly and Pietila also added one shot each to the NMU effort.

Shenae Kreps collected four saves in 90 minutes as the Wildcat goalkeeper.

UP NEXT

NMU takes on Grand Valley State University in the GLIAC Tournament Championship match on Sunday. The match is set for a 1 p.m. start at the Bulldog Soccer Field on the campus of Ferris State University.