Michigan Tech’s women’s soccer team kicked off its season with a home game at Kearly Stadium on Friday, Sep. 5 against the University of Minnesota-Duluth. This year, the team has 30 players, 12 of whom are freshmen. Last season, the team went 6-11-1 overall.
Melissa Kuhar, the head coach this season, is beginning her second season as the head coach. This isn’t Kuhar’s first rodeo; she has an extensive background, assistant coaching for four seasons at Drury University, where they won the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2021. Before that, she was an assistant coach at Bethany College.
Before the game, the girls were quite excited. Even though the weather was cold and rainy for most of the day, the game started on time, thanks to a break in the rain. They started off strong throughout the first half, not letting the opponent score any goals, thus keeping the score at the half 0-0. Continuing to put in their best effort, they worked to keep the ball on the other side of the field, only letting Minnesota score one goal in the second half, making the final score 0-1.
At the conclusion of the game, Coach Kuhar said, “Overall, we were moving the ball well, our back line played really well, so that’s always a positive.” When asked what the team is going to work on, she said “connecting the ball” so they can have more opportunities to score. Their next three games are at home, playing St. Cloud State University on Sunday, Sep. 7 at 12:00 p.m., Cedarville University on Thursday, Sep. 11 at 6:00 p.m., and Northwood University on Saturday, Sep. 13 at 1:00 p.m.
