HOUGHTON, Mich. - The Northern Michigan University women's soccer team scored in the 88th minute to earn a 1-1 draw at rival Michigan Tech on Friday night in Houghton. 

After being unable to capitalize on several quality looks throughout the match, the Wildcats persevered and found the equalizer with less than three minutes to go from none other than the GLIAC's leading scorer, as Molly Pistorius pinpointed a loose ball near the net and headed it home for the goal. 

The tally from Pistorius marked her eighth of the season, a sizable lead on the next closest in the GLIAC (5). It is also a top-15 mark in the country. 

Early on, Northern presented themselves with good looks, with the left side of Isabelle Brusilow, Brenna Musser, and Pistorius establishing the ability to move the ball deep into the Tech defense. An early quality chance came off the foot of Pistorius in the 15th minute within the 18, but Tech's keeper kept NMU off the board with the stop. 

As the opening half progressed, the Huskies were able to tilt the field back to even. Tech had a set piece from Seulgi Lee halfway into the stanza that sailed high. Soon after in the 33rd minute, Lee had another opportunity and curved the set piece short side into the net for the first goal. Tech would hold that 1-0 edge into halftime. 

Going with the heavy 20+ mph wind in the second half, the Wildcats continued to tilt the field and present chances to score. In the 68th minute, another quality look came from Pistorius within the box, but the shot bounced wide right. 

With ten minutes on the clock, freshman Madison Bilbia had the best look of the game to date, as she found a window on the left side of the box, but Tech's keeper Gracie VanLangevelde dove for the stop to continue to keep NMU at bay. 

The dominance in ball possession finally paid dividends for the Green and Gold with less than three minutes remaining. Off a Brooke Pietila set piece, the ball began to creep out towards midfield. A chase-down tackle from Brusilow kept the ball on the offensive end, and Musser punched the ball down to Pietila who sent a shot on net. After an initial one-handed save kept the ball floating near the goal line, Pistorius charged in with the header and ended up in the netting with the ball for the score. 

Northern led in shots on goal 5-2 with three coming via Pistorius. Each side had a pair of corners in the contest. 

With the draw, the two teams remain even in the conference standings at 3-1-3. Overall, the Wildcats are 7-1-3 on the campaign. 


Up Next
The Wildcats will stay on the road as next week arrives, with trips to Davenport on Friday, October 13, and Grand Valley State on Sunday, October 15 on the docket.