Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan University women's soccer team has been projected to finish fourth in the 2025 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) preseason coaches' poll. The poll, which reflects votes from conference coaches, places Grand Valley State at the top, followed by Saginaw Valley State and Ferris State.

After consecutive regular season and postseason conference championships, as well as three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the Wildcats have undergone significant roster changes. Among these is the hiring of Erin Egolf as the program's eighth head coach.

"We are looking forward to the season ahead. While there has been a lot of change within the program, the goals remain the same, and those are to compete for conference championships, be a top contender in the Midwest region, and perform on the national stage. Between the mix of returning players who are ready to build on the success of recent seasons and new players eager to get into the team and contribute right away, our team will be prepared to battle. The season is here, and we are all ready to get to work!" said Egolf.

Egolf arrives after serving as an assistant coach at Division I Illinois State during 2024. She played for Illinois State in 2009 and was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman Team that year. Before her stint with Illinois State, Egolf was head coach at University of Springfield for nine seasons, where she became that program's winningest coach and led them to three GLVC tournament berths.

"The level of accountability is high, the standards that the [student-athletes] have for themselves is really high, and I don't have to do a lot in terms of motivation; they bring a lot of effort every day... We have to control what we can, and that's something I'm big on. No matter how good of a soccer team you are, we can always control our effort and our attitude within the organization," Egolf said.

Joining Egolf on staff is assistant coach Nathan Phillips. Phillips comes from Millikin University where he helped improve their record over three seasons. Under his guidance starting in 2022, Millikin improved each year and hosted a playoff game for the first time in its history after finishing 14-4-1 last season.

The Wildcats return several key players from last year's successful squad. Senior Hannah Kastamo returns after earning multiple honors including All-America First Team distinction and GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year. Junior Madison Bilbia also returns following an improved sophomore campaign.

"[Coach Egolf's] impact has been bringing a sense of calmness," said Bilbia about her new coach. "On the first day she came in, she had everything together and we stepped into practice like it was completely normal... A big part of it is not looking at the season as a whole, but taking it day by day. We start with the first day of preseason, we take that day as hard as we can, and then each day is a new day that we're focusing on."

Other notable returners include senior defender Kenna Alexander—who played in all 22 games last year—and redshirt junior goalkeeper Jillian Thompson who set both school and national records with 14 shutouts last season.

"I'm super excited to embrace the change," said senior defender Addison Wargo about her final campaign with NMU. "We had a stellar season last year, and [we're] excited to see what we can do [this year]. We have our standards, and we keep to them."

This year's roster includes four seniors among nine upperclassmen along with 14 freshmen joining for their debut seasons. The Wildcats begin their schedule with exhibition matches at home against UW-Stevens Point today at 2 p.m., followed by Carroll University on Sunday.

"I would encourage anyone to come out and see us," added Egolf ahead of her coaching debut with NMU. "It's going to be high-level soccer, and our team is going to walk away from every game proud of the effort we put out... We've got a lot of home games this fall, and we would appreciate anyone who came out and showed their support. Go 'Cats!"