Women's Soccer 9/16/2026 8:31:00 AM Braden Golisek - Assistant Director of Sports Information

PREVIEW: Women's Soccer Opens Lengthy Road Spell

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The Northern Michigan University women's soccer team continues conference play with the first two games of a five-game road stretch.

The weekend features a Friday stop in Chicago to take on the Roosevelt Lakers, and a Sunday match against the Parkside Rangers. Kickoff for both matches is set for 1 p.m. ET. Fans can livestream the matches at FloCollege and follow along with live stats at nmuwildcats.com, as well as follow the official NMU women's soccer social media channels.

The Wildcats (3-2-1, 0-2-0 GLIAC) opened GLIAC play against the top-two teams in the conference at home last weekend, resulting in losses to #5 Grand Valley State and 2025 GLIAC Tournament runner-up, Saginaw Valley State. The Lakers and Cardinals were selected to finish first and second in the 2026 GLIAC Coaches Preseason Poll.

"We've got a very important weekend ahead," said head coach Erin Egolf in her mid-week media availability. "We're 0-2 in the conference, so we've dug ourselves a little hole here, but it's not insurmountable. It's early in the conference slate. We've got to bounce back, and we've got to come and perform well on Friday so that we can take that into Sunday. We're looking forward in hopes that we can go find our first conference win and then get back on the winning side of things."

NMU opens the road trip with a stop in Chicago, where the Green and Gold will take on the Roosevelt Lakers (0-4-2, 0-2-0 GLIAC). The Lakers received 17 points and were selected to finish ninth in the conference in the 2026 preseason poll after a GLIAC quarterfinal appearance a year ago.

While the Lakers lost their four-year starting goaltender and leading scorer from a year ago, the Lakers returned some key pieces and added new faces who have made immediate impacts early into the season.

When asked about preparation for the weekend, head coach Egolf says that the message of one game at a time and taking things day by day will remain how her team attacks weekend slates of matches.

"Yeah, we talked about this last week, right? You can't look past any team in the conference. Everyone has something: a problem to solve, a threat that they have that we have to be ready for, and so I think yeah, all eyes are on Friday. We're not even thinking about Parkside until we get through that Roosevelt game and hopefully have a happy result."

The Lakers are winless through its opening six matches, and are now winless in its last nine dating back to the end of 2025. The Lakers opened the conference slate with an away-and-home weekend, falling 0-5 to Parkside on the road before a 1-3 loss to Davenport at home.

"Roosevelt's had a tough start to their season, but again, just watching them, they're gonna put up a fight. They're not going to let us walk in there and just do whatever we want. We're gonna have to earn it. And so we've got to make sure we're in the right headspace, the right physical space, and as well prepared tactically to break them down and do what we're supposed to do in that game. So yeah, it's always going to be one at a time. This conference is not a conference where you can plan very far in advance. You've got to show up and be in the game that you're currently in, and so that's our mentality. Take care of Roosevelt, do our jobs, and then we can move on to Parkside."

The Rangers (4-1-1, 2-0-0 GLIAC) were selected one spot ahead of NMU in the preseason poll, finishing fourth with a total of 57 points, just three behind Ferris State in third. After an 8th-place finish two seasons ago, the Rangers put together one of its best seasons in nearly a decade, finishing 10-8-2 overall and 9-4-1 in the GLIAC, earning the No. 2 seed in the GLIAC Tournament a season ago.

The Rangers have multiple threats on attack, led by a trio of student-athletes with three goals apiece: Mary Leininger (3-1--7), Ava Rizzitano (3-1--7), and Rilyn Breinholt (3-0--6). Kate Brown (2-4--8) leads the Rangers in points and assists, with both Lindsay Dahlinger and Emily Slye adding three assists to their resume through six games as well.

The Rangers are 3-0-1 at home to start 2026, and are 9-2-2 at home dating back to 2025. When asked about competing on the road and starting the lengthy road trip of five straight matches, head coach Egolf noted a few things that set her team up for success away from Marquette, as well as the new NPI rankings system that gives more value to road wins.

"Being on the road is not going to be new to us. We just did that when we went to Cedarville, and we had a couple of exhibition games on the road as well, back-to-back to try and simulate what it was going to look like once we got to conference. Being on the road has its pros and its cons just like being at home, but I think being on the road, we can truly focus on what we need to get done. Some of those external factors are sort of taken care of. There's less distraction, and we can focus on our job, and that's truthfully what we need to do.

"With the new NPI system, you get more points for winning on the road. And so, we have an opportunity to really make an impact in terms of not just getting results, but then the NPI points that come from them."

The 'Cats lost 2-0 to Saginaw Valley on Sunday, a match that featured one of the Wildcats' highest offensive outputs in the Egolf era, but her team was unable to convert on crucial chances from in and around the goal area.

Egolf says that one of the main focuses in training this week will be finishing in front of goal, as scoring is not only the hardest thing to do in soccer, but one of the most important to find results.

Egolf also mentioned that another piece of that is finding out who wants to take the reins on offense, a challenge she gave her team after Sunday's result.

"We're going to replicate a lot of attacking moments in training this week. Muscle memory is a real thing, confidence is a real thing, and being able to do that over and over again and know that yes, I can do this, is a very real thing. I think this weekend we have an opportunity to generate a lot of offense, and so putting girls in positions where they're getting to see those looks under pressure this week at training is a big piece of what we're doing.

"I think really what it comes down to is ownership, and we challenged the girls after that game on Sunday. Who wants to be the one? Who wants to be the two? Who's going to step up for the team and get it done? All it would have taken is one of those [opportunities] to go in [against Saginaw], and we're right back in the game, even though maybe we weren't at our best and had pieces of ourselves missing. All it took was one finish from one player to give our team belief and hope, and we were just lacking. And so, it's really a challenge. Who wants to step up and be the one who's going to break that seal, take charge of the situation, and find us a goal? I feel like once one goes in, the monkey's off your back a little bit. And so, again, this week, I think it's a lot about instilling that confidence in them by giving them quality reps."

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