Houghton's Lydia Williams (23) and Sophia Blake (13) go on the attack against Kingsford's Onika Smeester during a game Thursday at Alumni Field in Houghton. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Houghton Gremlins and the Kingsford Flivvers girls soccer teams wrapped up a home-and-away series Thursday at Alumni Field in Houghton. Wednesday, the Gremlins traveled to Kingsford and lost 6-0. Thursday, they welcomed the Flivvers to Houghton and lost again 4-0.

However, according to Gremlins coach Elin Erkkila, not all was lost. She was pleased with the improvements seen in her girls on Thursday.

“First, the weather today made a big difference,” she stated. “It was rainy and cold yesterday in Kingsford. Today, while it is chilly, the sun is out, and we were much more attuned to the game.”

She added that she liked the way the girls moved the ball.

“We had some great connecting passes,” she said. “Our movement was better as we were anticipating a play ahead.”

For the first 25-plus minutes of this game, it was very much an equal battle taking place between the 30-yard hash marks on the soccer field. Neither team dominated control.

However, with around 12 minutes to go in the first, the Flivvers got on the scoreboard with a blast off the foot of Aubrie Moore. It stayed 1-0 in favor of Kingsford for the remainder of the first half.

The Flivvers opened the second with a goal at the six-minute mark. It was Sophie Tappy who kicked a high-looping ball out of reach of the Houghton goalkeeper and into the net. Tappy went onto score again in a similar fashion with less than a minute to go in the game.

In between Tappy’s two goals was goal number three for the girls in white. It was put in by the Flivvers’ Onika Smeester.

Thursday’s match was Senior Night for the Houghton girls. They said goodbye to four seniors and recognized three (international) exchange students. Among the seniors were Anna Wu, Anja Pyhtila, Callie Knuuttila and Cecelia Markham.

“They (seniors) will be dearly missed,” said Erkkila. “They played a big role on this team.”

She added that equally important to this year’s lineup were the team’s international students. They included Laura Lucak (Czech Republic), Elsa Cordero-Bourdard (Spain), and Linda Lehner (Austria).

Up next

The Gremlins will travel to Marquette on Monday for a 4:30 p.m. game.