Michigan Tech midfielder Karli Koskinen corrals the ball during a match against Saginaw Valley State Friday, Oct. 3, at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archabeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — After a tough road stretch that ended Sunday with a 6-1 loss to No. 5 Grand Valley State, the Michigan Tech Huskies soccer team sits in eighth place in the GLIAC standings with a record of 2-12-1 overall and 2-8-1 in conference play.

In the prior game against Ferris State, the Huskies put in nearly 40 minutes of very good soccer, but gave up a goal at the end of that stretch that sent them into a bit of a tailspin, which they never recovered from.

“I think, honestly, our Ferris State game was probably some of the best soccer we played at the beginning of a game,” said Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar. “The first 40 minutes were super solid. Our possession, what we were trying to create and kind of pulling them out of their formation a bit with what we were doing. Giving up that goal with five minutes left hurt us in that first half. Then, we came out second half just (with a) totally different style of how we were trying to play, which was not what we asked them to do. So, then we gave up two more quick. That was tough.”

Kuhar said that she addressed the Huskies’ struggles after the strong opening against the Bulldogs.

“Tthat was the biggest thing I said after the Ferris game is we have to put a whole game together,” she said. “I don’t think yet this season we’ve actually put a true full game, a full 90 minutes together, where I can walk away being super proud of that full 90. The girls, they realize we haven’t done that either.”

With a large contingent of freshmen on the team, putting an entire effort together has been difficult for the Huskies this season.

“Trying to kind of get a full game put together is kind of that hump we’re trying to get over,” Kuhar said. “If we can do that, the results are different, right? We can win some more games if we can do that. Hopefully, heading into this weekend, we can start putting 90-minute games in. Because, now it’s do or die, right? We have to be able to get results these next three games.”

The Huskies final three regular season games are all coming at Kearly Stadium. They open Friday with Wisconsin-Parkside before facing Roosevelt Sunday. Six days later, they will host Purdue Northwest. Roosevelt sits tied with the Huskies for eighth, having played one less game than Michigan Tech to this point. So, every game matters for the Huskies if they want to make the GLIAC Tournament.

On a positive note, the Huskies saw freshman midfielder Karli Koskinen score her first career goal Sunday against Grand Valley. Freshman midfielder Lizzy Striebel picked up her first career point by feeding the ball to Koskinen.

“It was awesome to have Karli get her first goal, and then Lizzy to get her first assist,” said Kuhar. “So, a little freshman combo there just shows our youth a little bit as well. Those players are playmakers, and making moves in the middle. But, I think it’s a confidence boost for her. You saw the reaction of our whole team, if you watch it back, from our fifth-years all the way down to those freshmen, our bench went crazy in a moment. We needed kind of a morale boost.

“Karli kind of hand delivered that to us. Great goal. It kind of proves, I keep telling our girls, we have to shoot. You have to shoot from anywhere. It proves that if they do it, it can go in. But yeah, big, big confidence boost for her. Confidence boost, I think, for the group in general, and hopefully can kind of grab that momentum and keep going with it. So, hopefully more of those this weekend.”

One other area that Kuhar wants to see improvement is in the net. Seniors Bri Barrows and Ludesha Reynolds split time against Ferris State and Grand Valley State, but the pair still surrendered nine goals between them.

“I mean, I wish we weren’t giving up as many goals,” said Kuhar. “When you leave a weekend giving up nine goals, it’s a tough one to swallow. I think for the two of them, that’s a tough pill to swallow as well. But again, it’s just they’re battling in there. They’re very much competing for the spot. We’ll kind of head into this week still with that mentality, see who kind of pulls ahead maybe this week in practice, and kind of go from there. But, our defense, and our goalkeeping unit, has to do a bit better. We can’t give up as many goals. We have to give ourselves a bit of a chance.”

Scouting the Rangers

The Wisconsin-Parkside Rangers are 7-5-2 overall and 7-2-1 in GLIAC play after a weekend that saw them fall, 1-0, to Ferris State, and defeat Davenport, 1-0.

Senior midfielder Emily Mikkelson leads the team in scoring with three goals and 12 points. Sophomore forward Ava Rizzitano, sophomore midfielder Lindsay Dahlinger, sophomore forward Kate Brown and sophomore midfielder Carley Nolte all have at least three goals each, with Dahlinger leading the team with four.

Senior Tristen Cross has been the go-to choice in goal, where she is 6-4-1 in 11 starts with a 1.36 goals against average and a .762 save percentage.

Scouting the Lakers

The Roosevelt Lakers are 4-8-1 overall and 2-7-1 in GLIAC play coming off a weekend where they lost to Saginaw Valley State, 1-0, before defeating Purdue Northwest, 3-0. They have Northern Michigan, Grand Valley State and Ferris State remaining on their schedule, along with the Huskies.

The Lakers are led offensively by junior midfielder Daisy Garcia, who has five goals and 13 points. Sophomore midfielder Carisma Rosales and senior forward Daisy Hernandez-Loya have four goals each.

In net, the Lakers have split time between freshman Angelina Vazquez and senior Roxy Herrera. Vazquez is 2-4-1 with a 2.29 goals against average and .619 save percentage in seven starts. Herrera is 2-3 overall with a 1.40 goals against average and a .844 save percentage in five starts.

Game times

The Huskies and Rangers will play Friday at 6 p.m. at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. Sunday, the Huskies and Lakers are set to start at 12 p.m.