Michigan Tech midfielder Reilly Lovercheck kicks the ball past Ferris State keeper Korinne Ihrke during a game Sunday at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Michigan Tech Huskies soccer coach Melissa Kuhar doesn’t pull any punches at this point in the season. The Huskies are 1-8-1 overall and 1-4-1 in GLIAC play, yet they are coming off a weekend where they lost a pair of 2-1 games to Saginaw Valley State and Ferris State.

“Obviously, (we) would love to have better results on the weekend, but if you look at the scoreline, look at the box scores, we created things, we scored goals which we hadn’t been doing,” she said. “We got some shots, some corners. We created a lot of things in the attack, and we changed our formation a bit, and did some different things with that.

“Obviously, two wins would have been awesome, or even a tie. But, there’s a lot of positives that can come from it, as much as you can take out of two losses.”

One good thing for the Huskies, they start a five-match road stretch.

“The process is kind of what we’re still trying to focus on here,” Kuhar said. “It’s going to all fall into place, and we’re going to get out of Houghton and get on the road. I think that’s where we’ve thrived the best so far this year, obviously, with our win and our tie on the road. So (we’ll) get out of here, and maybe that will kind of change some things up.”

While their record is not where they want it to be, the Huskies are just a handful of goals away from something much more in line with what they hoped for. The Huskies have four losses by just one goal, and one by two goals, of their eight.

“I don’t really look at the record,” said Kuhar. “I know what it is. I don’t need to look at it on paper. (That) just makes it hurt a little more. I even told our girls that we all know our record. We don’t need to look at it. Use it as motivation, and use it as fuel to the fire. We, obviously, want that to be different. But, you look at some of the results where it’s a 1-0 game, it’s a 2-1 game,. you look at even a 4-0 loss to Grand Valley. We were in that game. Until four minutes left, it was a 2-0 game. We gave up silly goals at the end.

“So, I think if you dive a little deeper into the results, and not just look at the record, it’s a whole different story. Obviously, the record is what most people look at, but I’ve told our girls that’s irrelevant at this point. We just have to continue to battle, work, and get better. We have a group that’s still all kind of forward-looking, and (has an) eyes on the next game kind of attitude.”

Even with the losses this past weekend, the Huskies found some offense from junior midfielder Reilly Lovercheck, who scored both goals. Kuhar loves what she brings to the field, and feels that the team can rally around the energy level that Lovercheck plays with.

“Reilly’s an Energizer bunny,” Kuhar said. “Anyone that watches her, she doesn’t stop. When she stops, she’s tired. It was nice to get her two goals, and both assists from Peyton (Wetzel) is pretty cool. That dynamic up there is fun to watch. It was a good result in terms of that and some production in the attack. Everyone feeds off of the Energizer bunny vibe that she has, so hopefully that continues, and other people can kind of jump on board and get some goals as well.”

Wetzel is part of a large freshman class for the Huskies. She is leading the Huskies in scoring with three goals and two assists. She, along with midfielders Braydin Noble, Sophie Rater, Lizzy Striebel, Kenzie Dollison, and Karli Koskinen, is gaining a lot of experience.

“They have that young energy about them,” said Kuhar. “You could tell them to do anything, they’re going to do it, right? You say jump, they’ll jump. Which is kind of that young part of them is that naiveness to some of it.

“But, they’re buying into what we’re asking. There’s countless freshmen that have seen significant minutes minus Rater and Peyton. You’re talking Braydin, who we barely took off the field, Harper (Neldner), who played almost a full 90 this weekend. You’re seeing some youth players really have to step up, and then being surrounded by some of our upperclassmen, has kind of really helped them just feel more comfortable, I think, on the field. That’s, obviously, a good thing that our youth are performing well. The future is bright.”

Scouting the Wildcats

The Northern Michigan Wildcats, who in the first season of coach Erin Egolf’s, are 3-3-4 on the season, and 3-2-1 in conference play after a weekend that saw them defeat Ferris State, 2-1, before playing to a 3-3 draw with Saginaw Valley State.

Senior forward Hannah Kastamo leads the team with four goals and 10 points in 10 games. Freshman forward Addison Frantti is also off to a hot start with two goals and seven points.

Sophomore defender Irena Kiilunen has also been good, scoring three goals on seven shots this season.

Redshirt freshman Carly Sides and redshirt junior Jillian Thompson have split the starts and the playing time this season at five starts each. Sides is 2-2-1 with a 2.00 goals against average and a .762 save percentage. Thompson is 1-1-3 with a 0.80 goals against average and a .810 save percentage.

Game time

The Huskies and Wildcats are set to do battle Sunday at 3 p.m. in Marquette.