Michigan Tech goalkeeper Ludesha Reynolds grabs a ball during a game against Purdue Northwest Saturday at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — With a spot in the GLIAC Tournament on the line for both teams, the Michigan Tech Huskies soccer team made a key mistake early that cost them just 65 seconds into the game. From there, the Huskies could not answer, falling to the visiting Purdue Northwest Pride, 2-0, Saturday at Kearly Stadium.

The loss was the Huskies’ seventh straight to close out the season.

“Not our best showing today, which kind of is tough, since it mattered,” said Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar. “It was probably the biggest game of the year. We just started flat, started slow, made some mistakes that we couldn’t recover from in the first half.

“Luck was not on our side today. We couldn’t even make ‘PK’ (penalty kick). So, it’s a tough one to swallow.”

The Pride (6-9-2 overall, 4-9 GLIAC) struck just 1:05 into the game when Mia Davis took advantage of a turnover, and kicked the ball towards the post to Huskies goalkeeper Ludesha Reynolds’ right. The shot hit the post, bounced back behind Reynolds, then hit her and went into the net.

“Just a bad, bad play on the ball, and they just kind of high energy, stepped in and had a good shot. It is what it is at that point,” Kuhar said. “I mean, it ricocheted and kind of bounced in off, I think, our goalkeeper’s back. So, it’s just one of those where we can’t make the mistake higher up the field that kind of resulted in the goal.”

The Huskies (2-15-1 overall, 2-11-1 GLIAC) had a good look to try to even things up when junior midfielder Riley Winrich had a chance in the 31st minute, but her shot was stopped by Pride keeper Meta Fischer.

As the clock rolled into the 43rd minute, the Huskies saw Reynolds scramble out of her net to keep Davis from scoring her second goal of the game. However, Reynolds was whistled for a foul, and Davis ended up with a penalty kick, which she scored on at 44:44 when she got Reynolds to dive to her right and then kicked it to the other side of the net.

“Yeah, it’s a tough one,” said Kuhar. “Just her hands extended is kind of, I think, what he (the referee) called, because she clipped her with the hands. As long as she’s 100% going for the ball, that’s the only way they’re not going to call. (It) happens. It’s part of the game.”

In the second half, the Huskies turned to freshman goalkeeper Paige Bilbey. She made one save on six shots by Purdue Northwest. The chance came off the foot of Ava Oleniczak in the 70th minute.

Kuhar was proud of how Bilbey performed in her first action of the season.

“The first game experience, nothing like throwing her into the deep end,” Kuhar said. “She did what we asked her to do, and what we needed her to do. We were trying something different back there. But, she stepped up, and she’s shown that all year that she is capable of that kind of stuff. So I wasn’t too worried about putting her in.”

With their season on the line in the final eight minutes, the Huskies found themselves around the Pride net. Junior defender Allison Millina had a look in the 83rd minute that Fischer stopped on a corner kick. Freshman midfielder Karli Koskinen had a look, but she missed the net just under a minute after a shot attempt by freshman midfielder Peyton Wetzel.

Winrich was awarded a penalty kick with 3:10 remaining, and she looked to her left before kicking the ball. Fischer made the save, but the ball rebounded right back to Winrich again, who fired off another shot, but that sailed over the net.

The Huskies finished as the ninth team in the GLIAC with seven points in 14 games in conference play.