UNIVERSITY CENTER – The Saginaw Valley State University women's soccer team defeated the Northern Michigan University Wildcats on Saturday afternoon (11/1) at Braddock Field by a final score of 2-1.
The majority of play in the first half was on the defensive side for the Cardinals. The Wildcats out-shot SVSU by an 8-2 margin with five of those shots coming on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Claire Spleth stopped everything that came her way and ended the first 45 minutes with five saves. The teams would head to the halftime break with the score tied at 0-0.
The Cardinals were able to find a good offensive rhythm to start the second half as they started to put the pressure on the Wildcat defense. Saginaw Valley broke the scoreless tie at the 52:28 mark of the second half as freshman Alexis Hilliard scored her third goal of the season to put the Lady Cards up 1-0. Hilliard received a touch pass in the box from Presley Tibbetts to set up the goal. Shelby Watts recorded an assist on the goal as well.
The SVSU offense would strike again, as this time Watts found the back of the net to put the Cardinals up 2-0 at the 56:12 mark. Watts received an excellent corner kick from Emma Webster and headed it in the net.
NMU would cut the Cardinal lead to 2-1 when a foul in the box gave the Wildcats a penalty kick at the 59:48 mark, which they would capitalize on.
The SVSU defense held strong the rest of the game and preserved the 2-1 victory on Senior Day. Spleth finished with five saves in the contest and recorded her 10th victory of the season. Watts scored her third goal of the season and recorded her second assist as well in the win.
"I'm very proud of the team today," said SVSU Head Coach Michael O'Neill. "Thursday's defeat was a tough pill to swallow. We knew the only thing we could do was respond today. I would also like to personally thank the six seniors for their hard work this year. They have been a pleasure to work with and I am hopeful we can give them a few more games to compete in."
Saginaw Valley concluded the regular season with an overall record of 10-2-3 and an 8-2-2 mark in the GLIAC while Northern Michigan dropped to 7-9-1 overall and 5-7-0 in the conference after the defeat.
The Cardinals advance to the 2014 GLIAC Women's Soccer Tournament as the #4 seed and will host a quarterfinal game at Braddock Field on Tuesday, November 4th at 2:00 pm against #5 Ashland University. Saginaw Valley defeated the Eagles earlier this season by a score of 2-1 on October 3rd in a home matchup.