Northern, which is 3-3-2 overall and 2-1-1 in the GLIAC, is looking to upset NCAA Division II No. 5 Saginaw Valley State (7-0-1, 4-0) at 3 p.m. today.

NMU remains home for another single game next weekend, too, taking on Wisconsin-Parkside at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2.

Northern is coming off a tie and loss on the road last weekend after it fell at Purdue Northwest 1-0 last Friday before pulling out a 1-1 tie vs. Davenport on Sunday.

For today’s game, Cardinals sophomore forward Jonathan Monney leads the nation with 10 goals, while Wildcats freshmen Tomasso Lami and Baruc Delgado each have three goals and sophomore Cian Tunney has three assists, according to a news release previewing the game from NMU Sports Information.

Northern Michigan University's Brady Kronenburg leaps to keep the ball under control late in the second half of a game played against Davenport on Sept. 26, 2021, at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

NMU has conference wins over Upper Iowa and St. Cloud State to go with last weekend’s tie vs. Davenport.

Fans can follow the team @NMU_msoccer and @NMU_Wildcats on Twitter. For live statistics, go online to nmuwildcats.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary, and for video, go to flofc.com/live/44981.

Here is a rundown on last weekend’s games:

———————-

Purdue Northwest 1, NMU 0

On Friday in Hammond, Indiana, the game remained scoreless until the final seven minutes, when the Pride’s Lucas Bravo Olle scored his second goal of the season that was assisted by Ryan Moran.

Purdue NW outshot NMU 8-3 overall and 5-2 in shots on goal, though the Wildcats held the edge in corner kicks, 7-4.

“I’m disappointed with the efforts today, mainly because we know we are much more capable then what we showed today, and I’ll take the blame on that,” first-year coach Alex Fatovic said after the contest in an NMU SI release. “It’s my job to prepare our boys to play, and from the first whistle, we were second to everything and outworked by a hungrier team.

“It’s a tough lesson to learn, but in this league and on the road you can’t take anything for granted and I promise Wildcats fans will never see a performance like that again from our team.”

There were no shots by either team and just one corner kick by Northern in the game’s first 15 minutes, and PNW got the game’s first shot on goal with about five minutes to go before halftime that NMU senior goalkeeper Alex Weaver stopped.

Another Pride chance went by the wayside before the half ended as the shot sailed above the crossbar.

The Wildcats got off their first shot of the game in the 61st minute by junior Philipp Rimmler, and after some back-and-forth play, Purdue NW got the only score with 6:25 left.

Lami and Casey Miller had NMU’s shots on goal as Weaver finished with two saves.

——————–

NMU 1, Davenport 1

On Sunday in Grand Rapids, the teams scored about seven minutes apart before the game was 30 minutes old.

Rimmler, a transfer this season from NCAA Division I Wright State, gave Northern the lead by scoring his first goal as a Wildcat early in the 23rd minute, working his way around the defense and firing a left-footed snipe from outside the box that sailed over Davenport goalkeeper Shane Marinkovich, ricocheting off the crossbar and into the net, according to NMU SI.

Then 7:01 later, the Panthers (1-5-1, 0-2-1) evened the score when Eoin Broughan found a sliver of daylight past an outstretched Weaver.

The tie could have been a bit of a disappointment to the Wildcats, who held a 9-1 edge in overall shots and 6-1 advantage in shots on goal just in the first half. For the game, NMU had 15-8 total-shots and 10-1 shots-on-goal edges, though DU led in corner kicks 9-3.

“I think 1-1 is a fair result on the day, but (NMU assistant coach) Adam (Kelemet) and I are extremely happy with how we responded to Friday’s disappointment,” Fatovic said. “Typically in life, you’re measured on how well you respond to adversity, and today our boys put in an unbelievable effort to get a tough point on the road on a Sunday against a very difficult and experienced opponent.

“Of course, we need to do a better job of not conceding goals in the manner in which we did, but again, the response after that was awesome. We have some tough kids willing to grind out games and fight for one another and we’ll need that mentality as we enter this next critical phase of the season.”

When the game was still scoreless, Northern junior Cole Walgren took the first shot on goal in the 12th minute as his header attempt was met by the DU goalkeeper. Defensively, Davenport had three corner kicks in the first 15 minutes but Northern kept their hosts from getting off a shot.

In the scoreless second half, Rimmler and Lami kept up NMU’s offensive pressure but were denied by Marinkovich. He finished with nine saves while Weaver had none.

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

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