Huskies soccer closes out season with final roadtrip
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HOUGHTON -- With just two games left on the schedule, the Michigan Tech Huskies soccer team closes out their season this weekend with a game against Wayne State Thursday and Davenport Saturday. With the new GLIAC scheduling rules in place, the Huskies have not faced either team this season.
That won't stop them from wanting to go into both games looking to create a little havoc in the GLIAC standings.
"Yeah, it’s kind of crazy," said Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar. "The last weekend is teams you haven’t played. I think it leads to it being a why not weekend. Why not go upset some teams and mess up some conference standings? We have nothing to lose. So, why not go and create some chaos." Kuhar knows that task is a tall one. The Wayne State Warriors are at the top of the GLIAC, while Davenport sits in a tie for third.
"Both teams are quality," Kuhar said. "Wayne, for their first year, right now sitting at the top of the conference, most likely going to win. It is absolutely insane. Then Davenport, they’re having a great year as well.
"But, it will be fun. Two teams we haven’t seen, we can try some different things. They haven’t seen us. So, it will be a fun weekend. Why not mess some things up?"
The Huskies come into the weekend 1-12-3 overall and 1-8-3 in conference play after a weekend where they needed points in both games if they wanted a shot at the eighth and final playoff spot. They put up a strong effort against Ferris State, but fell, 2-0, Friday. They followed that up with a 1-1 draw against Wisconsin-Parkside Sunday.
"It was good," said Kuhar. "Arguably played, I would say, one of our top games against Ferris, even though it was a 2-0 loss, we played well. We possessed the ball well. A little stat-wise, we had 350 something completed passes to their, like, 150. So we were moving the ball well. So, you go from a game that, you don’t get a result, but you play really well.
"Then, we went into Sunday’s game, and it was awesome to get a tie against Parkside and actually be in the lead for a while."
Senior defender Havanah Brockington had a huge weekend individually as the fourth-year player, who had played all of 20 minutes of game time in three years, scored her second career goal 27:52 into the game,
"It was pretty neat, an awesome goal from Havanah, a good kind of way to at least get a result on Senior Day and kind of send the seniors and everyone out with a good final showing," Kuhar said. "She got to play, and she was healthy. I think she missed two games with a little tweak. But, I mean, to be able to be on the field was something that was awesome."
Kuhar felt good about getting to see the senior show what she is capable of.
"To finally get to see her play and see what she can give to our team, she played in a lot of spots," said Kuhar. "She had to do a lot for us, both sides of the ball. But, yeah, it was a good feeling for her, a good feeling for us, and excited for next year to see what more she can do."
The Huskies honored six seniors after the game Sunday. A few of them will return for a fifth season, but the others won't.
"(The) senior group’s been through a lot, right? They’ve been through the ups and downs," said Kuhar. "A lot of them, their freshman year, made the national tournament. Then the coaching change, me coming in and changing a bit of the style. Just going through the growing pains of trying to rebuild the program. They’ve been through it every step of the way. They’ve bought in and they’ve kind of accepted the role, helping guide it and do it.
"While it hasn’t always gone how we wanted, it’s nice that they kind of got that last game where it felt good."
Scouting the Warriors
The Warriors are 11-1-4 overall and 7-1-4 in GLIAC play after a weekend that saw them defeat Grand Valley State, 2-0, and play to a draw with Saginaw Valley State, 2-2.
Freshman forward Sienna Mroue has been outstanding. She leads the Warriors with 10 goals and 26 points this season, along with 68 shots.
Fifth-year forward Malrin Wessner has seven goals and 15 points.
In goal, redshirt sophomore Kate Helfen has been strong. She has started 15 of 16 games, racking up a 9-1-4 record with a 0.67 goals against average and a .841 save percentage.
Scouting the Panthers
The Panthers enter the weekend 8-4-4 overall and 6-4-2 in GLIAC play. They defeated Roosevelt in their only game last weekend, 2-0.
Freshman forward Audrey Muterspaugh leads the team in scoring with seven goals and 17 points. Junior forward Isabella Workman has also been good, scoring five goals and 14 points. Senior midfielder Natalie Vance has two goals and seven points.
In goal, junior Elizabeth Wolter has been very good in net, going 7-4-4 in 15 starts with a 1.13 goals against average and a .827 save percentage.
Game times
The Huskies and Warriors will battle Thursday in Detroit at 3 p.m. Saturday, the Huskies and Panthers will open their game at 12 p.m. in Grand Rapids.