Huskies outshot Cardinals
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech soccer team posted its second-highest shot attempt in league play (18 shots 13 shots on goal) but couldn’t get past Saginaw Valley State in a 1-0 defeat in front of a well-attended homecoming crowd at Kearly Stadium Friday.
“We outshot them and had a lot of corners—we’ve just got to put the ball away.” Tech soccer coach Melissa Kuhar said. “I think overall it was a good game but we just couldn’t put it in the back of the net. “Saginaw is a good team but so is every team in this conference so we’ve got to find a way to score. I’m a little disappointed that was the kind of goal we gave them, we knew that was their game plan.”
Michigan Tech (4-4-0, 2-3-0 GLIAC) saw a career-high eight shots from veteran midfielder Kiersen Korienek half of which were stopped by Saginaw Valley State (4-3-1, 2-1-1 GLIAC) goalkeeper Lainey Garbarz who ended with 13 total saves and recorded her fourth shutout of the season with the win.
The Huskies got the first good look at the goal three minutes into the contest when Bri Barrows advanced the ball downfield to Korienek who met SVSU’s goalkeeper with sophomore midfielder Ryley Winrich firing the ball back into the Cardinals end only to be stopped by Garbarz.
SVSU veteran Stephanie Strong received a through ball well past midfield in the 10th minute and turned on the jets with hopes of a clean look at the goal, although she was met by Bri Barrows deep outside of the goal for a big-time stop for MTU.
From that point, the Huskies outpaced the Cardinals with five shots (three on goal) and four corner kicks compared to the three shots and two corners for SVSU. However, neither time could find the back of the net in the first period.
The Huskies returned from break and continued to battle in an always physical conference affair and improved on the efforts from previous second halves of recent games staying poised and tall on the defensive end.
The speed on the Cardinals’ offense struck again in the 73rd minute with a seemingly similar play to the chance SVSU got early in the first half, this time by sophomore forward Lauryn Fracassi who also used her speed to beat the Huskies’ defense and have a one-on-one shot with Tech’s keeper. Fracassi reached the through ball just before the six and chipped it over Barrows bouncing as it hit the goal line to give SVSU a 1-0 advantage.
Korienek recorded four of the final five shots in the final 20 minutes of action with Grace Hoeppner accounting for a shot on goal in the 78th minute. However, the Cardinals’ defense weathered the storm and claimed their second conference win of the season 1-0.
Korienek paced the offense for MTU with a career-high eight shots, four on goal as Barrows recorded a season-high six saves in net.
Strong led SVSU offensively with three shots, two on goal as Garbarz made 13 saves and her fourth shutout.
Up Next
The Huskies return to Kearly Stadium in hopes of a weekend split against Ferris State at noon.
