The #13 Grand Valley State University Lakers’ women’s soccer team (5-1-3) traveled to Marquette, Mich. to face the #18 team in the country, the Northern Michigan University Wildcats (6-1-2), leaving with a 0-0 tie in a hard-fought match.
Following the 1-0 win against the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on Sunday, Sept. 24, GVSU remained undefeated in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). The Lakers’ head coach, Katie Hultin, characterized the game against Parkside as “gritty” and “a good offensive performance.”
Senior forward Taylor Reid broke down the Lakers’ win over Parkside.
“Sunday’s game was definitely a battle. We had a lot of shots on goal, however, struggled to score. It was very exciting that we had that many chances,” Reid said. “Overall, I’m pretty happy with the weekend and excited to play in the upcoming games.”
Last season GVSU won their first match against NMU with a score of 2-0 and ended their second with a 0-0 tie. This year, both teams played a similar style of game that had a major emphasis on defense.
GVSU currently ranks as the number 13 team in the nation as NMU trails close behind at No. 18. On paper their similar records and national rankings showed that this would likely be a tight game, and the tie confirmed that.
Beginning the first half NMU started quickly with four early shots as the Lakers had just five of their own on the game to the Wildcats’ 12. While the Wildcats may have led in shots, GVSU’s redshirt freshman goalkeeper Isabel Imes stood up strong, making a career-high five saves in total.
Imes was jumped on early by the NMU attack as she had to ward off a shot just moments into the game.
“The first save was the first play of the game in the first few seconds,” Imes said. “The ball came from wide space and was laid off to an attacker at the top of the box who hit it first time to the right corner. I dove and parried the ball into the wide space where we were able to regain the ball.”
Imes and the Lakers were tested by a Wildcats team that was looking to bounce back coming off of their first loss of the season, a 1-0 game at Saginaw Valley State University on Sunday, Sept. 24.
“We always know this game will be a great game. Northern is a very good team and we know we have to bring our absolute best,” Hultin said. “I think we just need to keep focusing on the details and finding more ways to threaten in behind.”
The tie was the Lakers’ second of GLIAC play, after a 1-1 tie to SVSU a couple of weeks prior.
“I would say that today was a hard-fought game from both sides. Northern is a very good team, and we knew that it would be a challenge. We play them again in about two weeks, so we are hoping that we can get the win then,” Reid said.
GVSU stays static at 5-1-3 as the Lakers continue their season on the road for the next week. The final games of the away stretch are against Michigan Technological University (Oct. 1) and Davenport University (Oct. 6), before they head back to Allendale, Mich. to play their first home game in nearly three weeks on Friday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m.
