Women’s soccer breaks Grand Valley’s 43-game GLIAC win streak
The NMU women’s varsity soccer team did something that no other GLIAC team has accomplished since 2006, beating Grand Valley State 1-0 in overtime on Sunday, Sept. 19. Grand Valley came in winners of 43 straight conference games, but that ended at 91:39 when sophomore midfielder Becky Schmidt bombed a free kick past the Grand Valley goalie to win the game in front of the home crowd.
“Everyone’s playing incredibly hard and giving everything they have and I was just able to complete the puzzle,” Schmidt said. “You have to come in knowing you have nothing to lose, so as a team we gave it everything we had.”
Grand Valley State (5-1-1) was ranked second nationally heading into their game against the ’Cats and are the defending NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer National Champions. The win puts the Wildcats in sole possession of first place in the GLIAC.
“We are going to fight and play hard every game and at the end of the day good things will break our way,” said head coach Matt Granstrand. “We got athletes that give it everything they got.”
Sophomore goalie Jessica Baker and the ’Cats defense held the opponents scoreless for the third straight game in the win over Grand Valley. Baker’s impressive weekend on the pitch earned her GLIAC Women’s Soccer Athlete of the Week. She is currently third in the conference with a 0.45 goals against average.
“We knew that we had to defend as a unit and I think we really limited their chances,” Granstrand said. “They had a lot of shots but no free open shots.”
The win against Grand Valley was the first for the ’Cats since 2001. It also ended their regular season undefeated streak of 65 games.
The first game of the weekend was against the Ferris State Bulldogs on Friday, Sept. 17. The game took two overtimes and ended in a 0-0 tie, NMU’s third of the season.
The Wildcats had to finish the game without senior forward Kari Buckel after she was issued her second yellow card at 85:17, which resulted in a red card.
“I think we had our chances and could have probably put the game away early, but I think with the adversity of not finishing those chances and going down a man we learned a lot about ourselves,” Granstrand said. “I think in the long run that’s going to help us.”
NMU gave up nine corner kicks to the Lakers, while they did not have any corners of their own. GVSU also won the shots on goal battle 8-3.
The ’Cats will look to build off of their strong start in the GLIAC next weekend as they take the pitch for homecoming weekend. Northern hosts Saginaw Valley State (4-2-1) Friday, Sept. 24 at 2 p.m. and Northwood (3-4) on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 12 p.m. at the outdoor fields behind the dome.
