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Northern Michigan University men’s soccer team building on recent successes

Northern Michigan University men’s soccer head coach David Poggi yells out instructions in a GLIAC game against Purdue Northwest at the NMU Soccer Field on Sept. 20, 2019. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

MARQUETTE — It’s not easy to shut out an opponent and it’s even harder to shut out two of them.

However, that’s what the Northern Michigan University men’s soccer team has done recently.

The Wildcats (3-2) fought through the wind to shut down Purdue Northwest on March 28, then stonewalled Upper Iowa last Saturday.

NMU head coach David Poggi said in a Zoom interview Monday that to get the second straight shutout vs. Upper Iowa, it took a similar performance to the one against Purdue NW.

“It was probably the same as the week before, grind it out,” he said. “They were still in the match at the end and some big stops by our goaltender (Alex Weaver), who did a great job.

“We just are finding a way to win. I wouldn’t say we’re ready to be put in an art gallery for what we’re doing, but I’d say we’re definitely learning which colors to use. And that’s getting us through it and hopefully, continuing to build on it for this next weekend.”

This weekend is a return home for the Wildcats in the Superior Dome with a noon Sunday game against Northwood.

In their recent action, wind affected the Wildcats in Indiana against the Pride even though they came out with a victory, but Poggi said the conditions were a little better in Iowa.

“Iowa is where the tall corn grows and when that tall corn isn’t there, you get as much wind as you could possibly want as well,” he said. “It wasn’t as bad as Purdue Northwest, but what we got was something that my guys aren’t really accustomed to playing in the dome, and that is it was probably about 80, 85 degrees on the turf on the weekend.

“After the match, guys were wiped out … but also because it was played in a pretty high tempo. But they were also taking in the sunshine and the heat by laying on the turf. So I don’t know if that was a real smart thing to do, but I know that they were enjoying the warm weather.”

The game against the Peacocks was Northern’s last road game of the regular season as they’ll be at home for its last two. In addition to Northwood this weekend, the Wildcats host Wisconsin-Parkside at 1 p.m. next Saturday.

Both these upcoming opponents are 2-2, a half-game behind the Wildcats, who are in a three-way tie for second place in the GLIAC behind league leader and 5-0 Saginaw Valley State.

“Well, if there’s one team that we’ve developed a rivalry with, (Michigan) Tech doesn’t have men’s soccer so we can’t claim them as our rival, but Northwood definitely is,” Poggi said. “We have had real tight matches with them ever since we started the program here.

“They’ve been around for a long time. They’ve got a history and a tradition and in the early part of (our) program, we couldn’t find a way to beat them. We tied them and then we finally, in the last couple of years, started to beat them. We played them in the first round of the conference tournament I think two or three years in a row and got knocked out in that.

“So I think I know them as well as you could know anybody who graduates players every four years, but they’re well coached. They’re pretty direct, pretty similar to Ashland in the way we played with Ashland. I think that there could be a lot of goals scored in the match this weekend just because both teams will be battling and we seem to be better at an uptempo pace than we are at a slow-it-down pace, and I think they are too, which could be real exciting to watch.

“I don’t know about coaching it, but real exciting to watch. I just hope we don’t get carried away in the experience. We’ve got to take them with the same degree of seriousness that we take everybody else, but it is a rival for us and you can’t hide rivalries. I expect them to be playing for everything just as we will be.”

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

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