ALLENDALE, Mich.—The Saginaw Valley State University women's soccer team was eliminated from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday after a tough 1-0 loss against Northern Michigan University at Grand Valley State University Soccer Field.
The second-seeded Wildcats, who improve to 13-2-5 on the season, move on to face the host GVSU Lakers (a 3-0 winner over Ferris State in today's other semifinal matchup) in Sunday's championship game. The No. 3 seed Cardinals (11-6-3 overall) await their fate from the national committee if their postseason will continue with selection to the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship via an at-large bid.
Brooke Pietila scored the only goal of the game—her seventh this fall—in the 19th minute on a feed from Brenna Musser.
NMU goalkeeper Shenae Kreps made that lone tally stand up by making two saves to earn the shutout.
Lainey Garbarz stopped three shots to keep the Cardinals within striking distance. Amy Babon and Sarah Fredrick each had a shot on goal to lead the SVSU offense.
The Wildcats outshot the Cardinals 12-3 and had nine of the 12 corner kicks in the contest.