The Wildcats honored four seniors in the game on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 3 p.m. against the Huskies, Izzy Brusilow, Gwen Kiilunen, Brenna Musser and Haley Gruener.
The ‘Cats defeated the Huskies in a 1-0 decision. NMU’s Stephanie Trujillo had the lone goal for the team early in the first half, and goalkeeper Jillian Thompson made seven saves to shutout Michigan Tech. This win solidified the No.1 spot in the conference, making the team the regular season champions.
NMU hosted the GLIAC tournament for the first time in program history yesterday as they faced off against No. 8 Purdue Northwest in the quarterfinals on Monday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. The ‘Cats defeated the Pride in a 3-0 victory and secured their spot in the national tournament.
“There is no one on our team that can take a day off because the team is so deep and so competitive,” said Head Coach Jon Sandoval. “So, I think when you have a great leadership group combined with the informal leaders, the informal ballplayers [are] designed for success.”
This season there are seven Wildcats with over 1000 minutes played and two that lead the GLIAC in goals, Molly Pistorius and Hannah Kastamo. There are also two ‘Cats ranked top five in the GLIAC in assists, Trujillo and Kastamo.
The women’s soccer team has had a recording breaking season with both individual and team stats. Wildcats goalkeeper, Thompson, now holds the record for shutouts in a single season with 12, currently, with the previous records being nine shutouts.
The last time the Pride and Wildcats played each other, the game came to a 1-0 decision in favor of NMU. In their last match up, the ‘Cats outshot the Huskies 4-1 overall with the majority of their opportunities occurring in the second half of the game.
“It’s tough to beat opponents. It’s tough to beat opponents twice in a year,” Sandoval said. “Given the circumstances, the pressure, all those types of things, things don’t get easier for you. And luckily, we’re fortunate to have a group that is okay with things not being easy. They’re tough.”
This past weekend, the NMU women’s soccer team hosted the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals and the Ferris State Bulldogs. The ‘Cats finished the weekend 1-0-1 after drawing a 1-1 tie with the Cardinals and defeating the Bulldogs 1-0. These wins caused the team to ascend in the rankings nationally grabbing the No. 11 overall. This is the highest they have been ranked in history.
On Friday against Saginaw Valley State, the goals for both teams came in the last two minutes of the match. Angelina Perritano scored for the Wildcats but the Cardinals answered back in the final seconds of the match. In the game against Ferris State, Kastamo scored the game-winning goal with a header past the Bulldogs goalie.
The team now looks ahead to the GLIAC semifinals against No. 5 Seed Ferris State this Friday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. The ‘Cats will look to add to their two game win streak against the Bulldogs this weekend to advance to the GLIAC Finals.
“This has been a group that’s been in the Upper Peninsula for a while. We don’t shy away from the color. I mean, we run into it, we definitely take it head on so we’re not afraid of the cold,” Sandoval said.
