The No. 18 NMU women’s soccer team were able to stay in the rankings for a third consecutive week, marking yet another program record with the hopes to continue the trend far into the future. The Wildcats took a 1-1 split while on the road with the first win coming Friday, Sept. 22 against Ferris State with a 2-1 win over the Bulldogs.
“I didn’t feel like there was a whole lot of pressure on them on Friday,” Head Coach Jon Sandoval said. “I just think that you’re just going to be seeing some of your opponent’s best days and they’re really going to try to dethrone you.”
The Wildcats were undefeated and ranked 13th nationally heading into the second match of the weekend against Saginaw Valley and, with a win, the ‘Cats would have moved up in the rankings. However, NMU suffered a 1-0 loss to the Cardinals, knocking the team back five spots in the national polls.
“I’m not sure if there’s a sense of relief, but we’ve talked a lot over the last couple of weeks about the progression of the program and taking the program to next level and part of that next level is dealing and winning while being nationally ranked and having recognition,” Sandoval said.
The Wildcats will face their biggest test of the season thus far when they face No. 13 Grand Valley State at home this Friday, Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. GVST is coming off back-to-back wins and scored seven points over the past weekend.
“You have to be prepared for a battle every time every day because each opponent has the ability to beat you in some way, and Grand Valley and Davenport are no different,” Sandoval said. “We fully expect them to be committed to the cause, and it’s going to be really important that we play with pride this weekend to defend our home field and that we will get back to winning ways.”
The following matchup will be against Davenport University, another team that has been playing well this season despite going 0-1-2 over the past three games after starting 4-0. NMU has earned four shutouts this season and will look to win against two teams that have struggled to find the back of the net for the majority of the season thus far with limited attempts at the goal.
“[These are] two teams that are having a lot of success, two teams that are having a good year that are always dangerous, that are always a tough matchup,” Sandoval said. “As I’ve mentioned many times before, everybody in the GLIAC is good. Everybody on any given day can beat you every single time.”
