Huskies soccer drops rivalry match with Wildcats
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HOUGHTON -- Sunday afternoon at Kearly Stadium saw a matchup of two teams trending in two very different directions. The Northern Michigan Wildcats soccer team has been working to bounce back from a very rough 2025 campaign, while the Michigan Tech Huskies continue to struggle to score goals.
The result of their rivalry game was exactly what the Wildcats were looking for, a 4-0 victory.
The game turned on a stretch of 38 seconds of actual game time, as Sole Corley and Madison Bilbia both scored goals to bookend that stretch of time, and suddenly a scoreless draw turned into a Wildcats' lead they refused to relinquish.
"We really came out of the gates possessed, created chances forward, dynamic runs, dynamic movement up there," said Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar. "Then those two goals in 38 seconds, it was a dagger, right? That changed the whole dynamic."
Michigan Tech (0-101 overall, 0-6-1 GLIAC) had the better of the early going, and that resulted in scoring chances for sophomore Kenzie Dollison and senior defender Allison Millina. Millina actually had a pair of looks less than two minutes apart, her first was blocked, but the second forced Northern Michigan keeper Carly Sides to come up with a stop.
Even without scoring, the fact that the Huskies were controlling the ball and forcing the Wildcats to respond to them, was big.
"That’s what I just said to our girls, it’s a whole different game if it’s 0-0 at halftime," Kuhar said. "But, we also have to put chances away. We had some opportunities, even at the last 30 seconds of the game. We have to get one. We have to find a way to break through and get a ball in the back of the net."
Much to Kuhar's chagrin, it was the Wildcats (6-3-2 overall, 3-3-1 GLIAC) who sorted out the scoring. Corley got a ball in the middle of the box and simply floated a kick to the net that somehow found the top corner to Huskies fifth-year keeper Bri Barrows' right at 25:55.
Then, just 38 seconds after, Bilbia scored her fourth goal of the season by beating Barrows with a kick over the left shoulder.
From there, the Wildcats were in control of the match.
They added a third goal when Madalyn Nissen scored her first goal of the season at 46:51 on a penalty kick after the Huskies played the ball with a hand.
Two minutes later, Barrows was forced out of the game after a collision with a Wildcats forward.
Freshman keeper Natalie Miller came in and did the best she could to hold things down from there. She played 41:01, and made nine saves.
Northern Michigan solved her once at 75:45 when Ema Delgado's free kick was blocked, but the ball bounced right back to her and she scored on the second try.
Just five minutes before that tally, the Huskies had multiple chances in close to Sides. The first came off the foot of sophomore midfielder Karli Koskinen. The second came from sophomore midfielder Lizzy Striebel. Both were blocked just before getting to Sides.
With three minutes left, senior midfielder Ryley Winrick took advantage of a free kick to take a shot at Sides, but she was there to make the stop.
The Huskies still weren't done pressing. With 30 seconds left, sophomore midfielder Sophie Rater had a look from the middle of the box, but she settled for a pass to a teammate instead of taking the shot.
"I told them, 'We gotta be selfish.' Sometimes we’re just looking for that perfect ball, and it’s (not there)," Kuhar said. "They have to just rip a ball, shoot a ball, and then crash the goal. We just have to be a little more selfish sometimes, and actually take the shot. (We need to) actually put a good shot on frame, because they’re capable of it. They showed it all week at practice. They’ve shown it all season. We can score and practice. We just have to do it in the game now."
Michigan Tech ended up with 14 shots, with Sides stopping all five that got to her. Northern Michigan fired 25 shots with Barrows and Miller combining to stop 12.
Up next
The Huskies are home again this weekend as they play host to Roosevelt Friday at 6 p.m. Sunday, they host the Purdue Northwest Lions at 12 p.m. Both games will be at Kearly Stadium in Houghton.