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Northern Michigan University

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Marena Maceroni
Marena Maceroni

Women's Soccer Braden Golisek - Assistant Director of Sports Information

PREVIEW: Women's Soccer Opens Home Stand

The Wildcats welcome Purdue Northwest and Roosevelt to Marquette to kick-off a five-game home stand

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- After spending nearly an entire month on the road, the Wildcats finally return home and are set to host the Purdue Northwest Lions and the Roosevelt Lakers.

The Wildcats (6-3-2, 3-3-1 GLIAC, 10 pts - T5 GLIAC) enter the weekend on a four-game unbeaten streak, outscoring the opposition 12-2 with two clean sheets in that frame, propelling the Green and Gold up the GLIAC conference standings and regional rankings. The 'Cats are ranked ninth in the current United Soccer Coaches Midwest Region rankings and in the Midwest in NPI rankings. The only GLIAC foes above the 'Cats are Grand Valley State and Wayne State, who sit in first and sixth, respectively.

NMU rounded out its lengthy road spell with a win against U.P. rival Michigan Tech, with head coach Erin Egolf saying the win was earned "in good fashion" after she saw her side blank the Huskies and produce four goals from four different goal scorers. While the score may say one thing, Egolf noted that the result didn't come easy, and is proud of how her team stuck in and earned the result.

"Going into a rivalry game means a little bit more," added head coach Egolf during her weekly media availability. "We needed to go in and establish ourselves, and the end result was good. I think we were a little bit slow to start, and [Michigan Tech] threw everything they had at us in the first 15 minutes. Fortunately for us, we didn't concede, but they didn't make it easy on us. Once we got comfortable in the game, after that first 15 minutes, we were the better team, and we scored a lot of nice goals to show for it. So yeah, really happy with the win and with the result. It was much needed.

"We've got a couple more games this weekend that are going to be super important as we look to finish this back half of our conference. But yeah, I'm thrilled for the girls. They were excited, as they should have been. It's always is nice to win on the road, especially against your rival team. I'm proud of them for what they were able to accomplish on Sunday."

As referenced above, the Wildcats welcome two important matches to Marquette to begin the home stand. NMU starts with its only regular-season meeting against the Purdue Northwest Lions (4-5-2, 2-4-1, 7 pts - 8th GLIAC) on Friday, October 3, at 3 p.m. ET, before shifting its focus to a rematch with the Roosevelt Lakers (1-7-3, 1-5-1 GLIAC, 4 pts - 9th GLIAC) on Sunday, October 5, at 12 p.m. ET. Both games are free to attend at the NMU Soccer Field and can be streamed through FloCollege.

NMU is getting to crunch time on the campaign, where every point matters for conference standings at the end of the regular season, and every win adds more to your NPI ranking for selection into the NCAA Tournament. 

"I think every game from here to the end of our season is our biggest game. I think that this stretch of games for us is will determine where we fall, whether we're hosting or not. And we just have to go one at a time... It'll be so nice to be back home. I feel like we haven't seen our home field in forever, and a month is forever in terms of a season, and [now we're] able to get back home and protect our turf against a good Purdue Northwest team first on Friday.

While the Lions are near the bottom of the conference table, the results aren't as black and white as they appear. PNW may be 2-4-1 to start the conference slate, but have not lost a game by more than one goal in that stretch, including playing GLIAC conference leaders Wayne State and Saginaw Valley to a 2-3 decision. The Lions are 2-2-1 over its past five, and are a dead even 9-9 on goal differential. 

After Friday's contest comes a rematch against the Lakers, who defeated NMU in Chicago 2-1 before NMU started its four-game unbeaten streak that the Green and Gold are currently riding. The Lakers are winless in its last four, and will travel to Houghton to play Michigan Tech before heading east to Marquette for Sunday's clash.

"I know their record might not indicate that they're a good side or super competitive, [but] all their games have been close. They've battled with some of the biggest teams in the conference, and so we know that's going to be a fight. They're very scrappy, and we're going to have to play well on Friday if we want to come away with points.

"Sunday we get another shot at Roosevelt, and I think the girls will be very ready to find a better result in that game than the first time around. This is a huge weekend, and again it all starts with PNW on Friday, but I'm very confident that we step into that game."

After the opening matches of the conference season, head coach Egolf challenged her team to step up offensively, and they have delivered. Senior captain Madison Bilbia has four goals in the four-game unbeaten stretch, Addison Frantti notched a hat-trick and GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week after her performance against Saginaw Valley, and NMU has gotten offensive contributions from midfielders Sole Corley, Gretchen Ellis, and Addison Frantti. What makes offense easy is good defense, and the 'Cats are getting sound defending from Ava Buhlman, Riley Hill, Gretchen Ellis, and Madalyn Nissen, to go with the goaltending from Carly Sides. 

"We're in a great run of form right now as a group, and the girls are performing at a high level. A lot of the things we talked about throughout the course of the season, in terms of some deficiency here and some deficiency there, I think we're ironing out. And now we have to go. We have to go show up and play and do all the things we know we can do.

"I think our identity has been established. The belief is there, and the girls are playing good soccer right now. We have to bring that every game, and that starts again on Friday."






 
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Players Mentioned

Madison Bilbia

#13 Madison Bilbia

F
5' 5"
Senior
Ava Buhlman

#21 Ava Buhlman

D
5' 5"
Senior
Gretchen Ellis

#2 Gretchen Ellis

MF
5' 9"
Sophomore
Addison Frantti

#6 Addison Frantti

F
5' 7"
Sophomore
Madalyn Nissen

#19 Madalyn Nissen

D
5' 3"
Redshirt Junior
Carly Sides

#0 Carly Sides

GK
5' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore
Sole Corley

#9 Sole Corley

MF
5' 7"
Freshman
Riley Hill

#28 Riley Hill

D
5' 9"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Madison Bilbia

#13 Madison Bilbia

5' 5"
Senior
F
Ava Buhlman

#21 Ava Buhlman

5' 5"
Senior
D
Gretchen Ellis

#2 Gretchen Ellis

5' 9"
Sophomore
MF
Addison Frantti

#6 Addison Frantti

5' 7"
Sophomore
F
Madalyn Nissen

#19 Madalyn Nissen

5' 3"
Redshirt Junior
D
Carly Sides

#0 Carly Sides

5' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore
GK
Sole Corley

#9 Sole Corley

5' 7"
Freshman
MF
Riley Hill

#28 Riley Hill

5' 9"
Junior
D