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Tough pill to swallow: Northern Michigan University men’s soccer team falls in 2 overtimes to Lewis

Northern Michigan University’s Francisco Espinoza, left, fights for the ball with Lewis University's Aris Oluwatuyi during the first half of their college men's soccer game Thursday at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette. (Journal photo by Ryan Stieg)

“In the big picture, it was a great turnaround from how we played last Sunday. So I’m excited about that.” — David Poggi, NMU head men’s soccer coach, on the Wildcats’ performance in a double-overtime loss Thursday after falling 6-2 last weekend

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MARQUETTE — In soccer, the ball can bounce in various directions and burn you in many ways.

The Northern Michigan University men’s team felt that burn Thursday afternoon against Lewis as the Flyers got a late deflection in double overtime to earn a 2-1 win.

With the victory, Lewis stays undefeated at 3-0, while the Wildcats fall to 1-2.

“The defender went to block the shot and we were kind of stretched out all over the field,” Northern head coach David Poggi said. “The defender went to block it as he was shooting it and it bounced off funny off his leg. It was one of those things.

“We weathered their pressure early in the match, but then we were kind of on the front foot and they were on the back foot. We were on them for awhile and created some good chances.

“We had one off the post and we had another guy one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Another one that they called offsides.

“But they had their chances, too. In the big picture, it was a great turnaround from how we played last Sunday. So I’m excited about that.”

On Sunday, the Wildcats lost at Quincy (Illinois) 6-2.

Thursday’s loss was made even more difficult to take because the Wildcats rallied to tie the game with just over six minutes left in regulation off a rebound by Vegard Ervall and had a goal taken away in the first 10-minute overtime.

Lewis was in control for the first few minutes of the game, keeping the ball in the NMU defensive zone. Then the Wildcats earned the first quality scoring chance in the 24th minute as midfielder Luca Lippert passed the ball over to Ryan Palmbaum, who had a great look at the net, but his shot went just over the crossbar.

The Flyers answered back quickly, though, as they created their own golden opportunity with 20 minutes left in the half. Lewis forward Jimmy Mwanga found an opening in the middle of the Wildcats zone and sent a good shot on net, but Northern goalie Jonas Vorbau made a diving save to keep the game scoreless.

Vorbau finished with four stops.

The Flyers found the back of the net on their next good scoring chance as Domenic Baumann snuck the ball past Vorbau about a minute and a half before halftime. The Wildcats’ keeper made the outstretched save, but only got his fingers on it and it rolled just inside the far post.

NMU started to put more pressure on the Flyers defense in the second half and got another scoring opportunity in the 57th minute as Palmbaum sent a header on net, but it sailed wide. The Wildcats’ next chance came with 14 minutes left in regulation as Lippert sent a long shot on net that deflected off the top of the far post.

Lewis had an opportunity to pad its lead with a little more than eight minutes left in regulation, but Timm Adler’s shot was deflected over the crossbar.

After playing on their heels for a good chunk of the second half, NMU took advantage of a rebound and got on the scoreboard. Wildcats forward Ben Hoffman fought his way up the near sideline and fired a shot on net. Flyers goalie Ivan Burciaga made the save, but left a juicy rebound in front and Ervall sprinted up and sent the rebound into the net to tie the game.

“Everybody was pushing and it shows that (the Wildcats are) confident that they can come back,” Poggi said. “It would’ve been nice to come back and then win it, but you can’t always get what would be the best solution.”

With the game in its first extra session, it appeared that the Wildcats scored again as they got a shot on net off a corner kick and a Wildcat tapped a rebound into the open net, but the referee said the ball had gone over the end line before the rebound shot.

NMU travels downstate to face Ohio-based Lake Erie at 1 p.m. Sunday. The game will be played at Davenport University in Grand Rapids.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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