The Northern Michigan University women’s soccer team completed the end of their season with two games in Canton, Ohio.
The ’Cats traveled to Canton, Ohio with matchups against Walsh University Friday, Nov. 1 and Malone University Sunday, Nov. 3.
NMU finished their weekend with a win against Malone University and double overtime tie against Walsh University. The ’Cats end their regular season with a final standing of 5-9-3 overall and 5-4-3 in the GLIAC.
Sophomore Ashley Katers said the chemistry between her teammates and coach is growing and will continue to grow as they work together.
“Overall, our team needs the mentality to want to continue to grow and play soccer,” Katers said. “Some of our strengths would be communication and encouragement. Our team communicates well in the back and we encourage each other to keep in the game.”
The ’Cats battled through 110 minutes of gameplay into two overtime periods to come to the conclusion of a draw against Walsh University, 1-1. Katers scored the only goal for the ’Cats with an assist by freshman Paula Halfner. Freshman Alexandra Simmons stopped five shots on goal out of 16 total shots.
Halfner said the team played comfortably and came out with a strong win to end the weekend.
“We’re comfortable when we’re in possession of the ball,” Halfner said. “We have developed a lot as a team, as we improved many areas of our game throughout the season. We have improved in our ability to finish in the final third of the field.”
On Sunday, Nov. 3, the ’Cats took the field against Malone University, beating them in a shutout 3-0. Garza marked her first goal of the season against Malone.
Katers said she was proud of her team’s performance this weekend, along with the communication her teammates had on the field.
“I am really proud of my team for fighting through the entire weekend and giving it our all,” Katers said. “Each game we continued to get better as a team and I really think we could go far in the GLIAC tournament.”
Katers scored the only Wildcat goal in their double overtime tie against Walsh University.
Last season, NMU didn’t qualify for the 2012-2013 GLIAC tournament after finishing with a record of 4-13-0 overall and in 3-10-0 GLIAC.
This season, the ’Cats finished their season in the opening round of the GLIAC quarterfinal game Tuesday, Nov. 5at Ashland, Ohio against Ashland University losing 0-1. The ’Cats had two shots on net in total when the only goal was scored in the 21:44 of the first half. The NMU team completes another season with a final standing of 5-10-3 overall and 5-5-3 in GLIAC.
