Ferris State Soccer Keeps Home Unbeaten Streak Alive With Non-League Triumph

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's soccer team kept up its impressive play at home as the Bulldogs beat Northwood by a 3-1 count in non-conference play on Tuesday (Oct. 15) at the FSU Soccer Field in Big Rapids.

FSU avenged an earlier one-goal road loss to the Timberwolves in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) action back in September with the non-league victory under rainy conditions in Big Rapids.

The win was the Bulldogs' fourth home triumph in as many tries this campaign.

Ferris State scored the lone goal of the first half as freshman Meredith Smith notched her first goal of the campaign on a header in the box at 41:18 of the opening half.  Sophomore forward Nichole Boehnke provided the assist on a cross pass from the corner.

The Bulldogs struck again at 53:27 of the second period when junior midfielder Riley Wood tallied her third marker of the season on a shot near the net to make it a 2-0 contest.  Both Casey Shauman and Boehnke earned assists.

Northwood trimmed the margin to 2-1 as Jessica Kalbfleisch scored in front of the goal off a Jessica Flores pass at 69:02 with the goal allowing the Timberwolves to close the margin.

However, FSU's Taylor DiCicco sealed the victory as she scored on a shot from the middle at 77:15 with Abby Meirndorf providing the assist.  The goal was DiCicco's third of the year.

Ferris State held a 24-14 edge in total shots with 16 on goal compared to 10 for the Timberwolves.  FSU had 12 shots in each half while the Timberwolves totaled eight in the opening 45 minutes and six in the final stanza.

Senior Rachel McCollum went the distance in net for FSU and made nine saves while Samantha Cook had 13 saves for Northwood in the loss.

The contest was physical at times as the Bulldogs had a pair of first-half injuries, but the foul count was relatively low as Northwood totaled eight to four for FSU.

The Bulldogs also had some other scoring opportunities with five corner kick tries to two for the Timberwolves.  FSU also was called for offsides five times, which limited a few breakaway opportunities.

Smith had five shots to lead the Bulldogs with Boehnke and Shauman netting four each.  On the Northwood side, Flores totaled seven shots with three on goal.

Ferris State improved to 6-5-0 overall with the win while NU fell to 3-7-1 overall.

The Bulldogs will play a pair of home contests this weekend as they resume GLIAC play. FSU hosts Tiffin on Friday (Oct. 18) at 2 p.m. (ET) before facing Findlay on Sunday (Oct. 20) at 12 p.m. (ET).