Bulldog soccer eyes regular season

Exhibition match victory kickstarts Bulldogs into regular season

In their final exhibition game before regular season play, the Bulldogs women’s soccer team defeated the Northwoods Timberwolves by a score of 3-1 at home on Saturday, Aug. 31.

After Ferris tied Calvin 0-0 in their first match last weekend, the Bulldogs rebounded to enter the regular season with a win.

The Ferris State women’s soccer team celebrates after defeating the Northwoods Timberwolves 3-1. Photo by: Ciara Brooks| Torch Photographer

Ferris scored two goals in the first half of the match before the Timberwolves got on the board early in the second to make it a one-score game. However, the Bulldogs retaliated once more in the second to make the final score 3-1.

Senior goalkeeper Lauren Kubacki felt encouraged about the team’s direction after the exhibition win on Saturday.

“There are still some tweaks and kinks to sort out but we’re at a very good spot,” Kubacki said. “We were able to put together a lot more dangerous attacks and we dominated the possession aspects of the game which was a big focus for us heading into the match.”

The Bulldogs are coming off a 2023-24 regular season that saw them go 7-9-4 making it to the GLIAC Tournament Semifinals but ultimately losing to Northern Michigan by a score of 4-1.

Head coach Greg Henson spoke on his team heading into the regular season opener.

“We have a lot of veteran leadership but we’re also a young team,” Henson said. “We’ve got 19 freshman and sophomores and we’re happy with the maturity we’ve seen out of them already. We’ll definitely see some big impact players out of that freshman class this year like we have every year.”

Nineteen is the biggest group of underclassmen the women’s soccer squad has seen since the 2018 season where they had 23 underclassmen on the roster.

Freshman midfielder Natalia Leavans makes a pass to her teammate during Saturday’s game. season. Photo by: Ciara Brooks | Torch Photographer

Upcoming Matchups

Ferris State Bulldogs vs Cedarville Lady Jackets

The Cedarville Lady Jackets come to Big Rapids for the first game of the Bulldogs regular season on Thursday, Sept. 5. The Lady Jackets are coming off a 2023-24 regular season where they went 16-5-1 and made it to the NCAA DII but fell to the top-seeded Ashland University.

The matchup to watch will be senior midfielder Megan McClish of the Lady Jackets and sophomore forward Katherine Welch.  McClish had an excellent 2023-24 where she totaled 11 goals and five assists which was good for 27 points which was good for first in all categories in the G-MAC. Welch is hoping to grow off of her true freshman season where she had eight goals and one assist, good for 17 points.

Ferris State Bulldogs at the University of Indianapolis Greyhounds, Sept. 8

The Bulldogs head to Indianapolis to face off against the Greyhounds for game two of the regular season on Sunday, Sept. 8. The Greyhounds are hoping for a rebound season as in the 2023-24 season they went 4-8-5.

The matchup to watch in this game will be between the Greyhound’s Wegener and the Bulldogs’ junior forward Haley Buckman who will get a bigger workload with forward Payton Price graduating, Buckman totaled two goals and one assist which was good for five points in the 2023-24 season.