Members of the Northern Michigan University men’s soccer team raise their fists during a huddle in a show of team solidarity during a Wildcats’ home game earlier this season. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University men’s soccer team ends its regular season and will get ready for the GLIAC Tournament when it hosts Wisconsin-Parkside at 3 p.m. today at the NMU Soccer Field.

Though the Wildcats are a modest 4-9-3 overall and 4-7-2 in the conference, they have clinched a berth in the GLIAC Tournament, according to a news release from NMU Sports Information.

Northern is in sixth place in the eight-team league with 14 points where wins count as three points and ties as one. Every team has one league game left and seventh-place Northwood, 3-9-1 in the league, is four points back with 10, while eighth-place St. Cloud State (3-10) is five behind with nine points.

The Wildcats’ offense has woken up a bit recently, with two of the three games they’ve had this season with multiple goals coming last weekend during a split at home against GLIAC opponents.

NMU defeated St. Cloud State 2-0 on Friday before falling 4-2 to Upper Iowa on Sunday.

Northern’s other multigoal game, a 2-1 win, came at Parkside on Oct. 10 for the program’s first-ever victory over the Rangers.

“Parkside is a very good team,” NMU head coach David Poggi said. “They’re a difficult team to play with all kinds of weapons.

“We’ll have to be very good defensively, and we’ll try to use that to our strength. We’ll make sure that we keep people as healthy as possible as well.”

“I’m just happy that we’re to this point where we’re getting into the tournament. Your record doesn’t follow you into the conference tournament. It’s who you’re playing that first day.

“Once we get past Parkside, we’ll be focused completely on who that opponent is and how we’re going to work to win.”

On Friday, Quinn Putt and Isaac Ward scored for NMU vs. St. Cloud as junior goalkeeper Alex Weaver made three saves in the shutout.

Then on Sunday, Northern’s Nico Scheibal and Logan Lazar scored first-half goals for a 2-0 halftime lead before the Peacocks stormed back for four tallies after intermission.

Ryan Palmbaum remains ranked in the conference in shots, now tied for fourth with 52.

Fans can follow @NMU_Wildcats on Twitter for continued coverage throughout the week.

For information during the game, video will be available online at portal.stretchinternet.com/nmu/ and live statistics at nmuwildcats.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.