The first season for the women’s soccer team under head coach Danny Krispinsky came to a close Friday with a 2-1 loss to Michigan Tech in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference semifinals.

The Huskies took a 2-0 lead early and held off the Eagles in the second half to secure a spot in the conference championship, where they fell 2-0 to host Grand Valley State. 

“I felt like they came out and controlled the game in the first half,” Krispinsky said. “They got two early goals and we were chasing the game really for the rest of the time.”

Michigan Tech’s goals came just 34 seconds apart in the 11th and 12th minutes. Lindsey Van Rooy scored both, her sixth and seventh goals of the season.

Though the Huskies came out and created the early chances – they held a 14-2 advantage in first-half shots – Krispinsky did not feel his team was exceptionally poor in handling the pressure they faced.

“It was really just a couple of miscues at the back that led to their goals,” he said “It’s not that we were playing poorly back there, it’s just that we gave them a couple chances and they capitalized on it.”

The second half was a different story. Ashland was fighting to keep its season alive, and it showed. The Eagles controlled play for much of the second half with nine shots to MTU’s eight and got their reward with a goal in the 60th minute.

It was a solo effort by senior forward Haley Frick that put AU on the board. After receiving the ball near midfield, she turned in space and beat a defender before unleashing a shot from 15 yards out that settled into the bottom left corner of the goal.

From there, the Eagles created several quality chances that nearly sent the match into overtime, but never quite capitalized.

“We never were able to get the equalizer, but we gave ourselves an opportunity to get back in the game,” Krispinsky said.

Krispisnky inherited most of a team that went 6-6-1 in GLIAC play last season and was picked to finish 10th preseason. Following a 0-2 start, the Eagles went 8-1-1 in their next 10 matches to finish third in the regular season standings.

A 1-0 win over Northern Michigan the quarterfinals followed, and despite the loss in the semifinal round it is safe to say the 2013 season of AU women’s soccer was a success.

“I’m happy with where we ended up,” Krispinsky said. “We ended up third in the regular season, which says a lot about our girls and the improvements that they made.”

Individually, senior midfielder Kelly Krispinsky, sophomore midfielder Krista Lewis and junior defender Kelsey Dropsey were named to the All-GLIAC second team and senior goalkeeper Rebecca Plescia was an honorable menion.

“The thing that I liked about this team was that we found a way to win a lot of games,” Danny Krispinsky said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but we found a way to win whether it was 1-0 in overtime or if it was on the road battling for a tough win.”