Skip To Main Content

Northern Michigan University

The Official Website of the Northern Michigan Wildcats Northern Michigan Wildcats
Madison Bilbia

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

PREVIEW: Women's Soccer on the Road for Crucial Weekend

The Wildcats play the Warriors and Cardinals, who have combined records of 11-3-1 and 5-1-1 in GLIAC play.

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The NMU women's soccer team finds itself in the middle of its five-game road streak, heading to Wayne State and Saginaw Valley for another critical weekend of GLIAC play against tough competition.

The Wildcats (4-3-1, 1-3-0 GLIAC) are set to play GLIAC newcomers, the Warriors (6-0-1, 2-0-1 GLIAC) at the WSU Soccer Complex on Friday, September 25, at 1 p.m. ET in Detroit, Michigan. NMU then heads an hour and 40 minutes north to University Center, Michigan, to meet the Cardinals (5-3-0, 3-1-0 GLIAC) at Robbert C. Braddock Field on Sunday, September 27, at 1 p.m. ET.

Fans can stream both matches through FloCollege, follow along with live stats on nmuwildcats.com, and subscribe to the official NMU Women's Soccer social media channels for match-day updates.

The Wildcats are coming off a split weekend, dropping a 1-2 decision to Roosevelt on Friday, September 18, before turning around and defeating Parkside 3-0 on Sunday, September 20. Despite outplaying the Lakers early on Friday, the Wildcats couldn't find the back of the net, and after surviving the opening 45 minutes, the Lakers gained momentum for the second half, as two second-half goals gave the Lakers enough to walk away with three points.

NMU then turned around and stunned Parkside, scoring three first-half goals and slamming the door shut on the Rangers. Senior captain Madison Bilbia scored twice, the second brace of her Wildcat career, Lily Senese added her second tally of the season, and Carly Sides and the Wildcat defense earned the Green and Gold's second clean sheet of the season. Heading into the match, Parkside was undefeated in four straight, and had not allowed a goal in any of those matches. NMU also held UWP to just one shot on target, its fewest on frame since the 2024 season.

Head coach Erin Egolf said that the key to finding sustained success for her team will be improving consistency from game to game and week to week.

"I think soccer is a unique sport in that sometimes you play well and lose, and sometimes you don't play well and win. I think for us, we're still trying to find a lot of consistency, and this weekend was a perfect example of it. We saw two different teams in ourselves. Friday, I think that while we had a really nice first half, we were in command, full control, we walked off the field at halftime with nothing to show for it; that's super disappointing. And then, we give a team that shouldn't realistically be in the game with you, [some] belief, and then we all know what happened in the second half. And then you turn around and you play one of your biggest competitors, best competition that you've seen all season on Sunday and we, were fantastic.

"We're seeing different teams show up on different days, and we've got to find a way to get our game from Sunday to be how we play all the time. I don't know exactly what that looks like, but a lot of it comes down to mentality, and I think we have a group that has a great mentality; it's just not consistent. We have to find a way to bridge that gap, but we're in a good spot, and I'm not unhappy with where we are. I think we've taken our licks and we've experienced some setbacks, and that's okay. It's just how you respond to it, and I was really pleased with our response on Sunday."

After opening with an undefeated 3-0-1 in non-conference play, the Wildcats earned a No. 22 national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches national poll, and were as high as third in the Midwest region. NMU then went on to host the two GLIAC preseason favorites to open the conference schedule, Grand Valley and Saginaw, where the team dropped both matches despite a valiant effort in Marquette. A loss to Roosevelt and the bounce-back win over Parkside saw NMU move to 1-3-0 since the undefeated start.

While the team enjoyed its success in the early stages of the campaign, head coach Egolf hammered home that peaking at the right point in the season and earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament is the ultimate goal for her team. The 'Cats are aiming for one of the top-eight regional spots at the end of the season. To earn one of those spots will take building one game and one weekend at a time, and her team knows that every weekend is crucial toward building to that final goal.

"We talk about that a lot, and just keeping expectations and standards high. And we celebrate the good things; obviously there's a there's a lot to be happy about when you're ranked 22nd in the nation, but again, in week one or week two or week six, that's not reality. We are trying to peak at the end of the season and build toward that. There's always going to be a little bit of, "hey, we're undefeated, we're 3-0-1, we've made it", but I think our team does a good job of understanding [reality]. The first thing [the team] said after our Parkside game [was] "It's one game. We've got two hard games next week. Let's enjoy this today, and then we're back to work on Monday in preparation for the next weekend", and so I think there's a good understanding there.

"It doesn't matter who you play; everyone's tough. That Grand Valley and Saginaw weekend was the hardest way you could start your conference slate, and we didn't get results. And you're not always going to get results, but I'm more focused on how we're playing and the product we're putting out on the field. We beat Parkside 3-0. It wasn't about the score. We deserved to win that game, and we rewarded ourselves with three goals. That's how I see it, and I think that's how the team needs to view things and believe it... We play a hard schedule, and some things happen for you, and some things don't. I'm more interested in how we can be more consistent in how we come out and play."

The weekends don't get any easier, as the Wildcats move to Wayne State and Saginaw Valley, who have a combined 11-3-1 overall record and a 5-1-1 record in conference play. NMU opens with Wayne State, who are in its first season as a new program in Division II and the GLIAC conference.

The Warriors announced the addition of women's soccer in July of 2025 and are under the leadership of head coach Doug Steinard. Steinard has his team out to an undefeated start to the inaugural season, holding an impressive 6-0-1 record while outscoring its opposition 16-3. Sienna Mroue (6-1--13) and Mairin Wessner (5-0--10) are one and two in the conference in goals scored, and goalkeeper Kate Helfen leads the conference with four shutouts in just six games played.

The Cardinals, who were GLIAC preseason favorites to finish second after meeting Grand Valley in the GLIAC Tournament Championship game, have three clean sheets in its last four games. In that frame, the team's only loss is a 0-2 scoreline to #6 Grand Valley.

The Cardinals have depth in scoring, as five student-athletes have 2+ goals and 5+ points in eight games, led by Melanie Kolnitys (3-2--8) and Emily Kolodin (0-5--5), who leads the conference in assists. The Cardinals will meet Michigan Tech on Friday before facing the 'Cats on Sunday.

"We visit Wayne on Friday... They've won some games, some by pretty big scorelines, and I'm sure they're on a high. Who wouldn't be when you're 6-0-1? We're watching film now and seeing how we can best break them down and deal with them because they do have a couple of players that are very active and have scored a lot of goals. Wayne's going to be a tough game to start out our two games, and then we turn around and play Saginaw again, who we just saw last weekend. Both of these games have tremendous impact on our season."

With two tough opponents on the docket, the Wildcats have a challenging weekend ahead. But if the Wildcats continue the qualities that were shown in the win over Parkside on Sunday, head coach Egolf has faith that her team can be on the right side of results this weekend.

"I'm confident that if we take our Parkside mindset into both games, we could have positive outcomes. But again, we have to show up and be consistent in our play, our intensity, how we defend, and how we communicate. Every player has to show up, and that's what we're going to need. And so I'm excited; I'm excited to get on the road and test ourselves against two quality opponents again... We've got to give everything and perform well and and see what happens. But again, coming off our match on Sunday,  if we can perform like that every weekend, we'll always have a chance, no matter who we play."





 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Madison Bilbia

#13 Madison Bilbia

F/MF
5' 5"
Junior
Carly Sides

#0 Carly Sides

GK
5' 7"
Redshirt Freshman
Lily Senese

#22 Lily Senese

F
5' 4"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Madison Bilbia

#13 Madison Bilbia

5' 5"
Junior
F/MF
Carly Sides

#0 Carly Sides

5' 7"
Redshirt Freshman
GK
Lily Senese

#22 Lily Senese

5' 4"
Freshman
F