HOUGHTON — There is no other way to put it, the Michigan Tech Huskies soccer team’s season has been a long and difficult one. Between being young and seeing a number of veteran players suffer season-ending injuries, the Huskies enter the final weekend of the season with slim hopes of making the GLIAC Tournament after dropping both games last weekend to Wisconsin-Parkside and Roosevelt.

The Huskies are 2-14-1 overall and 2-10-1 in GLIAC play, which puts them two points behind the Purdue Northwest Pride coming into Saturday. The Pride have played one less game than the Huskies, however, and faced the Northern Michigan Wildcats Thursday in a game that could eliminate the Huskies from the tournament.

While the Huskies know they could take to Kearly Stadium Saturday with nothing but pride to play for, that doesn’t mean they aren’t playing some of their best soccer right now. Despite the losses last weekend, Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar liked significant chunks of both games.

“It’s tough result-wise, but honestly, we probably played some of our best soccer on Friday,” she said. “When the Parkside coach, after the game, is like, ‘Man, you guys took it to us,’ that says a lot about what product we put out there. Again, Sunday, (we) even had some of our best attacking moments we’ve had all season.

“So, super tough, when you look at the results, and the score lines, in general, don’t reflect again. That’s kind of an MO all season. (They) don’t reflect what product we put out on the field.”

Sunday, the Huskies had 12 shots in the first half against Roosevelt, including four on goal.

“It’s finally all come together, right? I think, even in the first half, we had some chances, and then the second half when we’re pushing for a goal, had a lot of chances there too,” Kuhar said. “It’s frustrating when we can’t find the back of the net, because we’re getting those opportunities.

“It shows what we’ve worked on over the last handful of weeks, over the last couple months, has really started to produce and pan out. It’s just now finding the person that can put the ball in the back of the net and get a goal, and that is the momentum-carrier that we need.

“So, it’s just kind of finding that person, but, for me as a coach, it definitely shows kind of that I take pride in what we’ve worked on, and that it’s not just us working on nothing. It shows that it’s working, and it shows that we can eventually get to that point. It’s a process and it’s hard to always remember that, but it’s been a process, and it will continue to be a process.”

The Huskies have 18 freshmen on the roster this season, and Kuhar feels that while there have been growing pains along the way, she is proud of how far they have come.

“I think our freshmen have grown a lot this year,” she said. “They’ve kind of checked off that box of being a freshman now this late in the season. But, it does factor into it. They haven’t experienced certain moments. They haven’t experienced certain pressures. Sunday’s game was probably the biggest pressure moment we had all year. The winner of that kind of almost sets a bit of a trajectory for postseason. There is a sliver of hope still pending, some other people doing things, but, yeah, it’s those pressure moments they haven’t experienced yet.

“So, some of that youth sometimes does shine a little bit when you don’t want it to. But, I mean, I think, again, they’ve grown and through the ups and downs of the season, have grown a lot. I’m excited as we head into post or into offseason, and the way they can continue to grow, and when they come back next year, be no longer be freshmen, no longer be the young ones. I think then maybe that’s where that next step in that process can go.”

One such player is midfielder Karli Koskinen. Since scoring her first career goal against Grand Valley State on Sunday, Oct. 26, she has been playing her best soccer, getting multiple chances against Roosevelt.

“The beginning of the year she was battling some injury,” said Kuhar. “She went down with an ankle, and with ankles, they just last forever. Right. She’s a kid that’s going to push and keep going. She pushed through a lot of pain at times. Not necessarily what we wanted her to do, but that’s just her mentality.

“Her parents are born and raised U.P. people. So, she kind of has that grit and grind to her. But yeah, that goal against GV definitely gave her some confidence. The last handful of games, especially this past weekend, she showed that the longer she’s in there, the more she can kind of create and do. She’s a kid that, no matter how tired she is, she’s going to keep grinding.”

Scouting the Pride

The Purdue Northwest Pride are 5-9-2 overall and 3-9 in GLIAC play going into their matchup with Northern Michigan on Thursday. They dropped four straight games, including one to Roosevelt, prior to Thursday.

Sophomore forward Mia Davis leads the team in scoring with six goals and 13 points in 16 games. However, she has gone six games without a goal since scoring against Saginaw Valley State on Oct. 10.

Six other players have one goal each.

In goal, Poppy Jackson, a sophomore, has taken the reins. She has seen action in 14 games, starting 13. She has a 1.25 goals against average and a .686 save percentage.

Match time

The Huskies and Pride are set to faceoff Saturday at 12 p.m. at Kearly Stadium in Houghton.