Wildcats will host GLIAC Semifinals Friday and Final Sunday
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The NMU women’s soccer team hosted the Michigan Tech Huskies in the opening round of the GLIAC postseason tournament, turning in a 5-0 win at home to secure home-field advantage for the remainder of the conference postseason.
The Wildcats (12-3-4, 9-2-3) found the back of the net early and often, scoring four goals in the first 15 minutes of the match before adding another early in the second. The Wildcats kept the Huskies off the scoreboard, securing the teams’ 10th clean sheet of the season.
“This is a group that has been together for a while now,” commented head coach Jon Sandoval in a post-match press conference. “They understand how we operate and how we play, they’re a group that really plays for one another when it comes to being unselfish, and goes that extra yard for a teammate, and as a coach, that’s really exceptional to see”
With five goals in the contest, the Wildcats’ season goal total has risen to 52, surpassing the previous mark of 49 set by Sandoval’s team in 2021, and establishing a new program-best.
The ‘Cats exploded out of the gate, scoring four goals in the first 15 minutes of play, thanks to a Justina L’Esperance brace, Madison Bilbia, and Calihan Bearden. Angelina Perritano added the fifth goal in the second half to finalize the scoring.
“We came out with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and effort, especially considering it’s a Tuesday after we played two matches on the weekend. To have that amount of grit to get into it right away was really impressive.”
Brooke Pietila, who played in her record-setting 94th match as a Wildcat, registered a pair of assists to break another NMU record, becoming the holder of most career multi-assist games with five.
Hannah Kastamo added a pair of assists and Molly Pistorius added a helper of her own. Sally Patton made two saves in the first 53 minutes of the contest before Emily Whyte came on as a substitute, making two saves of her own to secure the clean sheet.
“[The playoffs] is a new season, and teams are remembered for what they do in November, which is something we really talked about leading up to this. Not being complacent while also not letting the highs of winning the [regular season] conference championship be too high. We have goals to hopefully win the double and to play our best soccer, so it was great to see them come out with that type of intensity and effort.”
The Wildcats saw a lot of substitutions throughout the contest, as the only starter to play more than 43 minutes was netminder Patton. Though deep into the reserves, Sandoval mentioned that the bar doesn’t move from where he expects his team to play.
“When we made a lot of changes we wanted to make sure we kept the shutout. It was important for us to play positively… and all around it was really great effort from everyone today.”
The Wildcats, being the number-one seed in the conference, will host the remaining four teams of the tournament, with both semifinal matches being Friday and the championship on Sunday.
The first round of games from Marquette will take place at 11 AM and 2 PM from the NMU soccer field. The Wildcats draw the Davenport Panthers, who defeated the Ferris State Bulldogs 1-0, earning the program its first-ever post-season win and victory over the Bulldogs.
Both matches Friday will be featured on FloFC, with the Wildcats’ match on the air on 100.3 The Point.
“We need to understand that not every game is going to be like [the game we just played]. Davenport is a very physical and tough team that we are 1-1 with on the year. If we get complacent, don’t show up, and don’t do our job, it could be a tough day for us.”
How It Happened
The Wildcats opened the scoring early, taking advantage of a deep throw-in from Michigan Tech territory. Kastamo threw the ball to the foot of Pistorius, who moved past two defenders to the touchline down the right side of the box. Molly sent a cross from the line towards the penalty spot, finding the foot of L’Esperance who delivered her GLIAC-leading 11th goal, giving NMU a 1-0 lead just a minute and thirty seconds into the game.
The Wildcats doubled its lead before hitting the 10-minute mark, as Pietila settled the ball down about 20 yards into the attacking zone. Brooke made a pass forward to Bilbia, who dribbled around her defender to enter the right side of the box. Madison took a thunderous strike with her left boot, beating the diving Husky keeper to the bottom left side.
The game didn’t hit the 15-minute mark before the ‘Cats added two more tallies on almost identical plays. In both instances, Kastamo drove to the right touchline from just outside the box and made powerful crosses towards the middle of the area. The first was headed by Bearden, with the second being purposely redirected by Pietila to a wide-open L’Esperance who went bar down for the fourth of the evening.
Shortly after the fourth goal, the Wildcats began taking its starters off and cycling through the reserves, playing nearly everyone healthy and available for action to end the half.
With the second half starting and the starters returning to the match, the Wildcats extended the lead to five just three minutes into the frame. Pietila shielded off her defender before flicking a pass to Perritano right down the middle of the park. Angelina stepped into a right-footed strike from outside the 18-yard box that hit the right crossbar and down.
Sally Patton was relieved just shy of 10 minutes into the half, with Emily Whyte making her first appearance of the season, starting another wave of Wildcat reserves getting opportunities to get into the match.
The semifinals are on Friday at NMU. Third-seeded Saginaw Valley State will meet second-seeded Grand Valley State at 11 am. Top-seeded NMU hosts fifth-seeded Davenport at 2 pm. The championship match is Sunday at 2 pm.
