Iron Mountain junior Aziza Burgoon (5) is surrounded as she attempts to go up and control a ball during the Mountaineers’ girls varsity soccer contest with visiting Houghton on Friday afternoon. The Mountaineers were able to hold off the Gremlins for a 1-0 victory in front of the home fans. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

Bianco dribbled in from the left wing after a Gremlin turnover and lofted a perfectly placed shot to the upper right corner of the Houghton goal to record the only tally of the game.

“Aim high,” said Bianco of her strike that fluttered like a butterfly into the wind, giving the Houghton keeper no chance at a save. “My teammate sent me in and I was like, ‘Oh, just got to take it and hope it goes in.”

“Callie Bianco’s doing great for us out on the wing there,” Iron Mountain co-coach Bethany Fehr said. “She’s really been making some good runs on the side, and great communication between her and our center mids.”

On the other hand, Houghton had trouble mounting a sustained attack. And the few times they looked dangerous, the Gremlin wingers misfired or the Mountaineers’ defense of Emma Ellis, Kilee Howe, Sierra Ryan and Jaedyn Simonetti held strong in front of sophomore goalkeeper Emily Copley.

A Houghton player steps up and cuts off Mountaineer senior Gabby Carey (13), who constantly looked to push the ball into the Houghton defensive zone during Friday’s soccer clash. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

With about 22 minutes left in the first half, Houghton fired its first two shots at the Iron Mountain goal, both of which missed over the bar.

Shortly after that, play bogged down, as several players appeared to tire.

“It was grueling, obviously,” said IM co-coach Carly Lambert said. “We have a lot more conditioning to do. We were lucky to get that first goal, but they were running circles around us so we can’t lie about that. The defense was holding strong for us.”

Iron Mountain earned its first corner kick of the match about six minutes into the second half, but nothing came of it. Three minutes later, Mountaineer junior striker Anja Kleiman took possession from Houghton and sent a shot just over over the Gremlin net in an attempt to double her team’s lead.

Iron Mountain was aided by the impressive play of senior Gabby Carey, who was dogged in the midfield. She was physical and was continually looking to push forward.

Mountaineer Leah Winch (29) plays keep-away from a Houghton player during Friday’s game on Iron Mountain’s home field. The Iron Mountain defense continuously stymied the visiting Gremlins in the shutout victory. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

“Gabby Carey has been an awesome senior to have for us this year,” Fehr said. “She hustles both ends of the field and can really move the ball well and plays awesome. Really can’t ask for a better player there.”

Houghton notched its first shot on goal with just under 26 minutes to play when Kira DeVoge’s strike from the left was deflected and traveled right into Copley’s arms.

The Gremlins’ final chance came with 5:25 left when junior Emilee DeForge broke free on the Iron Mountain goal. But Copley stopped her shot and the Mountaineers were able to run out the remainder of the match to record their second win in three matches so far this spring.

Bianco said her team has improved after its season-opening 6-0 loss at Rhinelander on April 12.

“Our communication and just working together overall has gotten so much better,” she said.

“We beat Peshtigo (earlier in the week) 4-2, so I was super happy about that,” Lambert added. “So as of now we’ve won two in a row. We’re just hoping to keep that momentum going and hopefully we can keep winning some games.

“We have Kingsford on Monday, so that’s a big one. And we don’t have a practice between then, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 247, or at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com.