Bulldogs Race Past Wildcats As Rogers Sets New School Record

Highlights & Interviews 

Big Rapids, Mich. – The Ferris State University women's soccer team opened Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play with a 5-0 victory over the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Friday (Oct. 4) at the Bulldog Soccer Field.

In a shutout victory, Ferris State junior Bri Rogers broke the all-time school record for career penalty kick goals (7) and added three assists in the contest while redshirt sophomore Merin McDermott scored her first collegiate goal. 

Ferris State scored three goals in a stretch of 4:17 of play in the first half. First, at 28:20, senior Brandi Wagner laced a ball over traffic and landed it on the foot of sophomore Pia Nagel, who danced past NMU goalkeeper Brianna Frontuto for a 1-0 lead. Nagel's goal was her team leading seventh of the season and stood as the game-winner. Wagner earned her first assist of the year on Nagel's goal.

For Nagel, it was her 10th career game-winning tally, tying her for second in school history for career game-winning goals with Carley Dubbert with 10.

Then, only 54 seconds later, Rogers fired a free kick into a scrum, and McDermott headed it into the goal for a 2-0 lead. Rogers picked up her third assist of the season and first of three on the day on the goal.

Shortly after, at 31:07, Ferris State earned a corner kick. Rogers curled the corner over NMU keeper Frontuto and junior Mackenzie Dawes headed it into the back of the net for her third goal of the season. Rogers earned her fourth assist of the season and second of the game on the goal.

Ferris State took a 3-0 lead into halftime with a 10-1 shots on goal advantage through 45 minutes of play.

In the second half, Nagel fought a shot through traffic that bounced into the NMU goal for her eighth goal of the season and second of the game at 62:14 to make it a 4-0 contest.

Finally, at 84:48, Ferris State earned a penalty kick off of a Northern Michigan hand ball. Rogers stepped up to take the try and buried it for her third goal of the season. Rogers broke the career penalty kick goal record set in 2006 by Kristie Smilianich and capped the scoring for the 5-0 victory.

In goal, Ferris State senior goalkeeper Grace Kraft made three saves to move to 3-0-0 on the season and earned her 18th career victory, moving her into a tie for second most all-time with 2015 graduate Maddie Haustein. The shutout was Kraft's 13th career clean sheet.

For NMU, Frontuto took the loss, making 13 stops for the Wildcats.

Ferris State finished with an 18-3 lead in shots on goal and 34-14 shots advantage for the day.

The Bulldogs return to action against the Michigan Tech Huskies on Sunday (Oct. 6) at 12 p.m. (ET) at the Bulldog Soccer Field.