MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Northern Michigan women's soccer team fell to Ashland, 2-1, in overtime in its opening game of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action Sunday afternoon at the NMU Soccer Field.

"I thought we played a quality team today and played well enough to get a win," head coach Matt Granstrand said. "It will come, and we will keep training hard until we see our luck turn."

The Eagles got on the board in the game's sixth minute, capitalizing on a free kick in close. Kelsey McKernan's kick sailed over Alexandra Simmons's head and into the back of the net to put Ashland ahead, 1-0. 

The Wildcats responded two minutes later to knot the game at one. Abby Cook came up with Carmen Villarruel's corner kick in traffic out front of the goal and sent the ball past Courtney Barker.

While neither would find the back of the net until 84 minutes later, the Wildcats and Eagles traded plenty of scoring chances, combining to take 35 shots in the game. Simmons made nine saves for Northern Michigan while Barker came up with seven for Ashland.

In the 56th minute of the match, the Eagles nearly pulled ahead when Deljah Swihart and Morgan Bittengle walked in on a 2-on-1. Simmons made the initial save on Swihart's shot, which Bittengle came up with. After Bittengle's shot was blocked by a Wildcat defender, Simmons made a sprawling save on another Swihart chance to preserve the tie.

In the 81st minute, with the Eagles pressing, Swihart had a look at a wide open net, but Natalie Yeck got back in time to block her shot.

Swihart wouldn't be denied just over a minute into overtime, taking a pass from Bittengle and threading the ball inside the right post to give Ashland the 2-1 victory.

The loss drops Northern Michigan to 0-5 (0-1 GLIAC) on the season while Ashland improves to 5-0 (2-0 GLIAC). The Wildcats will look to get into the win column when they travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio Dominican Sept. 25 at 7 p.m.