The UMC Women’s Soccer squad hosted Michigan Tech in their regular season home opener and a veteran Huskies team spoiled the day by shutting out the Golden Eagles 8-0. “You look at it as a whole and it looks ugly, but I do think we made some growth here,” said Golden Eagles Head Coach Kyle Halfpop. “The scoreboard doesn’t always reflect things.”
The first 23 minutes of the game featured methodical offensive pressure from Michigan Tech resulting in 7 shots, four of which were saved by the UMC keeper, Abby Olsen (So. Chisago City, MN). “We went through periods where we looked pretty good and that’s something you can build on,” said Coach Halfpop. “The first twenty minutes I thought we executed the game plan.” Then in the 24th minute, the UMC defense finally cracked when Julia Pietila sent one off Olsen’s hand and into the back of the net off a nice pass from Allison Thelen for a 1-0 lead. Five minutes later Pietila added on after another assist from Thelen. The Huskies continued to possess the ball and resulted in a couple more goals. In the 38th minute, Pietila and Thelen switched roles as Thelen got Michigan Tech back on the board to make it 3-0. Pietila was not done, however, as she continued to find openings in the Golden Eagles’ defense collecting a first half hat trick in the 42nd minute. UMC had offensive chances sporadically across the first half resulting in three shots, but the Huskies goalie made a couple of saves to hold UMC scoreless in the first 45 minutes. “I thought we were effective at picking our spots in the beginning where we were able to absorb some pressure and then counter and have some good chances,” explained Coach Halfpop. “But then when it broke down, it broke down pretty badly and it took a while to fix that.”
The second half UMC was forced to make a change at goalie after Olsen had shoulder discomfort. Emma Stempien (Fresh. Plymouth, MI) was the replacement and she was tested early and often by Michigan Tech with five shots coming in the first seven minutes, resulting in two saves from Stempien. Eventually, the Huskies broke through eight minutes into the half on a Hadley Wells shot up and over the reach of Stempien for a 5-0 lead. After the goal, UMC was able to play a much more even game over the next twenty minutes creating more shots than the Huskies over that time. However, the Huskies found their groove again adding three more goals in a four minute span. The goals came from Alexis Shatrau, Julia Pietila, and Anna Gulan on a penalty kick in minutes 74, 76, and 78, respectively. “When you face an experienced team that is technically sound and combine that with the physicality and the athleticism it’s a tough opponent to get off on the front foot,” added Coach Halfpop. The Golden Eagles had two counter-attacks late that got them two shots, but could not find the back of the net leading to an 8-0 defeat. “That is a very experienced roster team that we played. If you look at their roster it’s very heavy in juniors, seniors, and fifth year players,” explained Coach Halfpop. “We have very little college experience and we are still learning and it’s a good time to do that since we aren’t in conference yet.”
UMC falls to 0-3 to start their regular season schedule. They will look to get the first win of the season on Friday when they go to Moorhead to play Minnesota State University Moorhead.
Michigan Tech improves to 3-1 in the early going.
1st | 2nd | Final | |
MICHIGAN TECH | 4 | 4 | 8 |
UMC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scoring –
MTU- Julia Pietila (Allison Thelen)- 23:09
MTU- Julia Pietila (Thelen)- 28:30
MTU- Allison Thelen (Pietila)- 37:22
MTU- Julia Pietila- 41:09
MTU- Hadley Wells (Anna Syracuse)- 53:16
MTU- Alexis Shatrau (Anna Gulan)- 73:51
MTU- Julia Pietila (Jesse Jacobusse)- 75:08
MTU- Anna Gulan (PK)- 77:16
SAVES | 1st | 2nd | Final |
MTU- Erika Gabriel | 2 | – | 2 |
MTU- Gracie VanLangevelde | – | 2 | 2 |
UMC- Abby Olsen | 4 | – | 4 |
UMC- Emma Stempien | – | 5 | 5 |