Huskies soccer drops season opener to Bulldogs
Trending
HOUGHTON -- Even though the 2026 season opened Friday night, the Michigan Tech Huskies soccer team spent half the game looking an awful lot like the 2025 version of the team. When the match ended at Kearly Stadium, the Huskies fell to the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, 2-0.
"I think we only showed up for 45 minutes," said Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar. "The first half was not at all Michigan Tech soccer, was not at all the style we want to play. The girls knew it. I didn’t have to tell them at halftime, but I definitely did.
"It wasn’t our style of play. We came out in the second half, guns ablazing. We went at them, and that was the type of soccer we want to see. We can’t do it for 45 minutes only. We have to do it for the 90. Duluth is better than they have been in the past, and they’re pretty solid, but nothing we shouldn’t have been able to handle."
The first half was all Bulldogs as the Huskies struggled to even get the ball across midfield. Minnesota-Duluth tested fifth-year keeper Bri Barrows, firing four shots at her, the last one finding the net at 43:39. Defender Lauren McGough took advantage of a right corner kick and she knocked the ball past Barrows for the first goal of the game.
Giving up the late goal hurt.
"It’s a dagger, right? I tell our team, you have to win the fives," said Kuhar. "It’s that first five, the last five of every half. To give up a goal on a corner with what, less than two minutes left in the half, is not ideal at all.
"Definitely kind of stomps on your soul as you head into halftime. So, that was on us. We have to clean that up. If it’s 0-0 at half, maybe it’s a little different, too. We’re not chasing in the second half when we’re actually playing well, and then it’s a whole different game."
The Huskies had one shot on goal in the first half and it came in the 41st minute, when senior midfielder Marissa Wentland got a shot off from the high left side of the box, but Bulldogs keeper Edy Halverson was there to make the stop.
In the second half, sophomore midfielder Sophie Rater helped draw the Huskies into a much more competitive half in terms of ball control. The Huskies tried numerous times to find a way to carve through the Bulldogs' defense, and nearly were successful most of the time.
Michigan Tech did manage to get a second shot on goal at about the 52-minute mark when sophomore midfielder MacKenzie Dollison got a shot off from the high right side of the box. However, Halverson was again there to make the save. Less than a minute later, freshman forward AK Puryear had a look, but her shot just sailed wide to the left side of the net.
Kuhar liked a lot of what she saw.
"(We were) way more dynamic than we have in the past," she said. "Way more variety in what we were creating up there. The energy was great. Karli (Koskinen) came in, and was lights out. I didn’t want to take her off, but she got banged a couple times.
"But, I think we just were creating more dynamic runs up there. We were creating. There’s more energy up there, but now we just have to put it together for 90 minutes. We were forcing too much in the first half, so that kind of hurt us. Couldn’t even get forward."
From there, the Bulldogs started to close ranks, and forced the Huskies into turnovers. Slowly but surely, Minnesota-Duluth fought their way back into the game. They then starting throwing multiple balls at Barrows until one snuck past Barrows at 71:09.
At that point, the Huskies' offense could not keep up with the Bulldogs, who closed out the game with a couple of late shots from defender Amelia Castlberg.
Barrows finished with eight saves in the loss.
"She played well," Kuhar said. "She’s back, right? She’s back. After not being able to play those last three games (last season) because of the leg, she came back, she killed her rehab. She’s probably fitter than she’s ever been in her life, which is that motivation from when you’re injured. You have to crawl back to find yourself again."
The Huskies were back in action Sunday, when they hosted St. Cloud State.