Michigan Tech midfielder Megan Antczak keeps the ball away from a Minnesota-Duluth defender during a game Friday at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — For the first 12 minutes of the match Friday night, the Michigan Tech Huskies soccer team looked in control. They held onto the ball. They made smart passes. They attacked weak spots in the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs’ defense.

Then a long pass gave the Bulldogs the best scoring chance of the first half. While they did not score then, they did score late in the 75th minute to leave Kearly Stadium with a 1-0 win.

Gwendolyn Lilly got a pass from Kenneday Christensen off a corner kick. Lilly fired off a shot, then knocked a rebound past Huskies goalkeeper Bri Barrows at 74:56 using her head, which was all the offense the Bulldogs needed.

Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar felt that her team did some good things, but also showed its youth throughout the match.

“It was a tough, physical matchup,” she said. “We’re young, so we’re still kind of trying to get some of those kinks out. But, it was a battle, a little bit different than the style we wanted to play.

“It became more of a long-ball game, but that’s just kind of what the game was dictating. Overall, not fun to lose, but at least there’s some bright moments. Hopefully (we can) build on that going into Sunday.”

The Bulldogs committed eight fouls in the first half, and finished with 11 in the game. Add to that, rain and high winds, and the night proved tough.

“The game kind of dictated needing to go a little bit more big and not being able to necessarily build out of the back as much, which was obviously our game plan,” Kuhar said. “Keep it on the ground, move the ball. But, they came out with a game plan too, and kind of executed it, and just kind of kind of how the game flowed. The weather doesn’t help all of that as well.

“It’s just kind of what happened, and I wish we would have been able to stick more to our game plan, but again, the game dictates it.”

The Huskies had chances, including one just over three minutes in when sophomore midfielder Megan Antczak had a look from the left corner of the box, but her shot sailed wide to the right of the net. Then, less than a minute later, junior midfielder Riley Winrich had the Huskies’ first shot on goal.

Antczak had another look off a rebound off a corner kick, but that was stopped by Bulldogs goalkeeper Kaycee Chavez.

At the other end of the field, Barrows made a good save seven minutes in, and then had to deal with a long pass that sprung Jessica Eischens for a 1-on-1 into the box. Barrows ran out to meet her, forcing Eischens to attempt to shoot earlier than intended, and Barrows made the save.

“She gives us game experience from last year, and then that leadership just, in a young group overall, she’s one of our four captains, and her and Olivia Gette back there really having to kind of keep that tempo, and then ‘AK’ (Anna Syracuse) as well,” said Kuhar, “it’s nice when three of your captains are in the back five.

“Bri definitely gives us a lot of that leadership back there, and just the ability to kind of help dictate the game in some senses, too.”

After that quality scoring chance for the Bulldogs, the Huskies had a few more looks, but struggled to find the net in a meaningful way. One sequence with a little over 20 minutes left in the first half saw Antczak get another look, only to have her shot deflected away from the goal. Shortly after, Winrich took a corner kick, but the ball never curled in front of the net, instead hitting the side of the netting instead.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair with neither team getting much in the way of scoring chances until the Huskies had a look with just over 15 minutes left. After the game stopped for an injury to a Bulldogs defender, the Huskies continued their attack. During a corner kick in front of the Duluth goal, a Huskies attacker appeared to be knocked to the turf. No call was made, and the Bulldogs were able to get the ball and march quickly down the field, which led to the corner kick that resulted in the lone goal of the contest.

Barrows finished the game with seven saves.