Less than a week separates the Northern Michigan women’s soccer team from their season, starting with a weekend packed with three home matches.
Over the weekend, family and fans alike gathered at the NMU field to watch the team’s final exhibition match against The Allouez Stride club soccer team.
Unlike regular season games, the scrimmage consisted of three 30-minute periods with practice shoot-outs in between to make sure all the players got ample playing time in preparation for their upcoming weekend.
Although the team performed well in the later portion of the scrimmage, head coach Matt Granstrand said he would like to see the team start out of the gates with high energy.
“I think we started off slowly and that’s a concern that needs to stop,” Granstrand said.
“Once we started playing, we played well. [Allouez is] a good team and it’s another opportunity to take a look at everyone and to prepare for the opening game.”
The team sets their sights for their opening weekend when they will take on Finlandia University as well as St. Cloud State University and Winona State University.
“Three games in five days to open the season is challenging, possibly even risky,” Granstrand said.
“At the end of the day, that’s why we have 30 players. And if all 30 players contribute, [winning] is very doable, and that’s our intention.”
Both Winona and St. Cloud beat the Wildcats 2-1 in last year’s opening weekend. Granstrand said both teams were tough competitors and described Winona as a “powerhouse” team.
“St. Cloud took it to us,” Granstrand added. “They are both good teams and they both beat us last year, so our goal this year is to see if we have improved, see if we have grown as a program.”
Senior Wynnie Maravilla said last year the team had a much more lackluster preseason, which was not adequate in preparing them for the season.
“We are a different team than we were last year,” Maravilla said. “I think we have a lot of depth so these next few days are going to be better games.”
Maravilla added that the team’s senior players remember the feeling of being trapped in a losing streak, and they have a better mindset to start the season how they want and to avoid getting caught off guard.
“We need to start out strong,” Maravilla said. “That’s what happened to us last season we just didn’t start out strong, and it just kept going. You almost forget how to win.”
A passionate, offensive performance is what is expected out of the team by Granstrand, who said he believes the opening weekend could be an important stepping stone for the rest of the season.
“If we could get some success early in the season, I think we will have a great year,” Granstrand said.
The ’Cats weekend of hosting starts Thursday at 6 p.m. against Finlandia, continues at 4 p.m. on Friday against St. Cloud, and ends with Winona at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
