Women's Soccer Preview
Thur: #5 Drury vs #4 Northern Michigan, 2pm, Ashland, Ohio, Ferguson Field
 
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Drury and Northern Michigan's high-powered offensives square off in the first round of national tournament
The first round of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional will feature the fourth-seeded Northern Michigan and the fifth-seeded Drury Panthers in Ashland, Ohio.
 
Drury was selected for the national tournament with an at-large bid. The Panthers finished the regular season second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) only behind Maryville. Drury would end up beating Indianapolis, 1-0, in the conference quarterfinals before falling to McKendree, 2-1, in the GLVC Semifinals. The loss to McKendree ended the Panthers' ten-game unbeaten streak of 8-0-2. Drury's regular season record of 13-1-4 gave the Panthers the best regular season winning percentage in program history, .833, breaking the 2021 team's winning percentage of .735. Drury had seven girls named to three different all-GLVC teams, including first-team selections, Andrea Camargo, Kourtney Tucker, and Holland Hawkins. Hawkins ranks third in the GLVC in goals with 11. Camargo was the league's defender of the year in 2023 and has been a staple on the back line for the Panthers for five seasons. Tucker is responsible for 16 of the Panthers' 120 points on the season with six goals and four assists. Katy Fitzler was a second-team selection only behind Maryville's keeper. In her first season of play, Fitzler leads the nation in shutouts with 13.
 
This is Drury's third appearance in the NCAA-II tournament and second under head coach Justin Olson. In 2021, Drury went 1-1 in the tournament with a win over Ashland and a loss to Saginaw Valley State. Drury's first appearance was in 2007 when they lost in the regional championship to Grand Valley State after downing West Virginia Wesleyan and SIUE.
 
Northern Michigan made the tournament by winning the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) tournament. The Wildcats were also the regular season champions of the GLIAC. In route to winning the GLIAC tournament, NMU had to take down Michigan Tech, 5-0, Davenport, 4-1, and Saginaw Valley State, 3-0. The Wildcats had seven players named to the all-conference team, including the league's offensive, defensive, and freshman players of the year. Brooke Pietila was the GLIAC offensive player of the year after she led the conference in goals, assists, game-winning goals, points, and shots, all in 14 conference games. The GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year was Hannah Kastamo. She led the Wildcats' defense that only allowed six goals in conference play and has allowed 10 all season. Northern's goalkeeper, Sally Patton was the league's freshman of the year. Patton has a goals-against average of .47. Justina L'Esperance, who is 17th in the nation in points per game with a 1.76 was also a first-team all-GLIAC selection. Out of players in the Midwest Region, L'Esperance only trails Anna Stiffler (McKendree), McKinley Mendenhall, and Dani Hicks, both from Ashland, in that category. Jon Sandoval was the GLIAC Coach of the Year for the second straight season.
 
Sandoval has led the Wildcats to three of the four program's national tournament berths, in five seasons. Under Sandoval, Northern is 0-2 in the tournament with both losses coming to Maryville. The first Wildcat berth into the NCAA-II tournament was in 2010 when they lost to, now NCAA-I member, Northern Kentucky.
 
Both Drury and Northern Michigan's seasons leading up to the national tournament mirror each other statistically. The Wildcats have a scoring margin of +48 whereas the Panthers are +30. Northern is slightly allowing more goals per game at .52 with Drury at .50. Both squads are scoring over two goals a game. Drury is averaging 20 shots per game with nearly half of them on net. Northern Michigan is right behind Drury with 19.19 shots per game and nine and half of them on net. This places Drury fifth in the country and NMU seventh, which is the top two in the region. Both teams are bottom in their leagues in saves, Northern Michigan has recorded 61 and Drury 40. The Panthers have only faced 90 shots on the season. Northern has faced 144. The starting goalkeepers for both teams are in their first year of play, NMU's Sally Patton is a freshman, and Drury's Katy Fitzler did not play last year as she sat behind all-region keeper Kaitlin Knetzke. The Wildcats do have the top three point-scorers in the GLIAC with Justina L'Esperance (37p), Brooke Pietilla (30p), and Molly Pistorius (25p).
 
This will be the first either team has played each other. The 13-hour drive that separates Springfield and Marquette will be shorter for both teams. Northern Michigan will make the nine-hour drive to Ashland and Drury on the 11. The trip to Ashland will be the first time that Drury has left the central time zone this season and the first since October of 2022 when they played in Indianapolis.
 
The winner of this game will face off with the top seed in the region, Ashland, in the Midwest Semifinals. The game will be played on Sunday, November 24, at 2 pm central time.
 
QUICK FACTS
Stat Leaders
Drury: #00 Katy Fitzler (14-2-4, 40 saves, .50 GAA, .800 sv pct), #14 Holland Hawkins (11g-22p)
Northern Michigan: #99 Sally Patton (13-2-4, 47 saves, .47 GAA, .855 sv pct), #22 Justina L'Esperance (15g-7a-37p)
 
Head Coaches
Drury: Justin Olson (5^th season, 54-20-19)
Northern Michigan: Jon Sandoval (5^th season, 62-19-15)
 
Streak:
Drury: Lost 1
Northern Michigan: Won 3
 
Last Game in Regional:
Last Drury game in regional: Lost vs Saginaw Valley State, 3-2 (OT) in semifinals, Nov. 20, 2021, game played in Ashland, Ohio
Last NMU game in regional: Lost vs Maryville 2-1 in first round, Nov. 17, 2023, game played in Marquette, Michigan
 
All-time series
Drury and Northern Michigan have never played each other
 
#OneDrury