Portage Northern sophomore Tia Lamie scored three second-half goals in a 3-0 victory over host Niles on Wednesday, earning the Huskies their first win of the season in the process.
Rae Herbert, Lauren Ross and Catherine Willoughby each assisted on one of Lamie’s goals, and freshman Liz Kimmel finished with four saves to preserve the shutout for the Huskies.
“Tia scored a lot of goals for us as a freshman, but it’s taken her a couple of games this season to find her groove,” Portage Northern coach Todd Wells said. “We haven’t had a game like tonight where we’ve had a lot of chances this season, so even though we didn’t convert as many as I’d have liked, it was nice to play some offense for once after playing a lot of defense recently.”
Wells said that the shutout victory was a big boost to Kimmel’s confidence.
“She’s been under a lot of pressure all season, and I’ve been telling her at practice that she hasn’t really made any mistakes this season,” Wells said. “She’s made every save you would expect, and even a few you wouldn’t expect from a freshman goalkeeper.
“She deserved this win, and the best thing is that she’s only going to continue to get better.”
Portage Northern (1-4, 1-1 SMAC West) plays Battle Creek Lakeview on Friday for its next game.