Northwestern 2, Yellowjackets 1

SUPERIOR, Wis.: The Yellowjacket women's soccer team was riding high after picking up its first win of the 2018 season Tuesday, and was coming home looking for its second win of the year and a chance to move up the standings in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

Saturday's guests from the University of Northwestern had other ideas.

The Eagles scored once early and once late in the first half to take a lead and held on for the 2-1 win before a crowd of 136 on a crisp fall afternoon at the N.B.C. Spartan Sports Complex in Superior.

And it was one person that did most of the damage for the Eagles. Linley Norman had a match-high 10 shots attempted, eight of which found the target. She made one of her first shots of the day count, taking a pass into the middle and flipping a shot over Yellowjacket goalkeeper Madison Gutekunst (Mound, Minn./Mound Westonka) to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute. Norman would add her second goal of the match in the 41st minute, and Northwestern led the Yellowjackets 2-0 as the teams went to the break.

Things stayed that way until the closing minutes of the match when the Yellowjackets broke through. With 1:57 to play Liza Shelquist's (Pine Island, Minn./Pine Island) laser of a shot went off the cross bar, but Annah Schussman (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) was right where she needed to be, and the freshman made no mistake, scoring her first collegiate goal from in tight to pull the Yellowjackets to within one, 2-1.

As time ticked off the clock the Yellowjackets put forth a valiant effort to draw even, but the Eagles held them off and escaped Superior with the win.

Gutekunst had a big day in goal for the Yellowjackets, getting her fair share of work between the pipes and finishing the match with 17 saves, several of which came with a high degree of difficulty. Her record dropped to 0-2-0 for the year.

Up Next: It's a quick turnaround for the Yellowjackets (1-4-1, 1-2-0 U.M.A.C.), as they travel to take on Finlandia Sunday afternoon. The match will get underway at 3:00 p.m. in Hancock, Michigan.