Huskies soccer prepares for rivalry game while still searching for first win
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HOUGHTON -- With losses of 3-0 at Saginaw Valley State, and 2-0 at Ferris State, the Michigan Tech Huskies soccer team is still searching for their first win of the season. Things won't get much easier for the Huskies this week, as they host rival Northern Michigan Sunday.
Huskies coach Melissa Kuhar liked some of what she saw from her team throughout last weekend.
"Saginaw is a good team," she said. "I mean, we stuck with them for a good chunk, kind of gave up some not great goals, and then it was just kind of trying to claw back.
"Ferris (was) kind of the same story, right? You get them.0-0 at half, arguably dominated the first half possession-wise, chance-wise. Then first, what was it? Four minutes, 55 seconds killed us in that (second) half. I tell our girls we got to win the fives. We struggled to do that, and we didn’t start the second half well. Then it’s just a clawback moment the whole rest of the half.
Giving up goals without scoring themselves is compounding things for the Huskies.
"It’s tough when you’re down and give up goals we shouldn’t have given up," said Kuhar. "We knew we needed to do something defensively different there, and we kind of had a lapse. But, good moments, again good moments are only so much. We have to get some goals and some wins."
With the losses, the Huskies are 0-9-1 on the season now, and 0-5-1 in GLIAC play. Part of the issue for the Huskies is when they play a solid first half, they have a stretch of about five or six minutes early in the second half that makes life difficult.
"I would love to know it," Kuhar said, when asked what is causing the early second-half struggles. "I don’t know. We kind of challenged our team right after the game to kind of have them kind of help us there. We, as a staff, there’s only so much we can do, and only so much we can kind of ramp and motivate them at halftime.
"We make the adjustments we need to make. We tell them different things we’re getting, giving them encouragement and feedback throughout halftime."
Kuhar mentioned that she is trying different strategies to get things moving to start the second half of games.
"There’s just that something that we can’t piece together in kind of that first five," said Kuhar. "That’s kind of been a trend this year where we’re giving up too many goals early in a second half, which is not good. We do all this work in the first half. We have to be able to kind of really start the second a lot better.
"It’s something where, luckily, we only have one game this week. We can really get to the drawing board and kind of try to figure out what’s going on there."
While the offense has not come quickly for her, freshman forward AK Puryear continues to earn quality playing time, and seems to be carving out a role as an outside back for the Huskies.
"I joke with her," Kuhar said. "She makes freshman mistakes still. I joked with her after Friday’s game, and heading into our game on Sunday, 'So, are we going to pass to Michigan Tech today?' It’s just a joke. I can joke with her. She’s a good kid. She gives it right back.
"She’s playing well for a freshman. To be a starting outside back against a lot of really tough teams in our conference that we played this last month, she definitely is playing a big role and she’s doing it well. She’s getting into the attack. She had a couple shots against Ferris and a shot/cross that I told her, 'Let’s put on frame. You can score that, right?' She has her freshman moments, but she’s definitely still showing a lot and giving our team a lot of good quality play."
Kuhar loves how versatile Puryear is proving to be.
"We threw her up top this weekend and just told her to kind of run around," said Kuhar. "She’s got a lot of energy, and why not try something different? Give some of the people that were playing heavy minutes a little break, and we have a solid back line core that I’m able to kind of piece and move.
"But, she’s really kind of solidified that outside back-type role. I recruited her as a forward, but she’s really owned that, and kind of (proved) she can play anywhere."
Scouting the Wildcats
The Northern Michigan Wildcats improved to 5-3-2 overall and 2-3-1 in GLIAC play after playing to a 1-1 draw with Wayne State Friday and following that up with a 4-1 win Saturday over Saginaw Valley State.
Senior forward Madison Bilbia is tied for the team lead in scoring. She has three goals and eight points in 10 games. Sophomore forward Addison Frantti has a team-high four goals.
Also playing well for the Wildcats is Marquette native Isabella Lorens, a senior forward. She has two goals and seven points on the season.
In net, sophomore goalkeeper Carly Sides has played the entirety of the season. She has a 1.30 goals against average and a .745 save percentage.
Game time
The Huskies and Wildcats will match up Sunday at 12 p.m. at Kearly Stadium in Houghton.