Northern Michigan University’s Justina L’Esperance, left, chases down the ball along with Minnesota-Crookston’s Morgan LaPlante during their women’s college soccer game played at the NMU Soccer Field on Sept. 4. (Journal file photo)

NMU August exhibitions:

• Both Wildcat teams play on Aug. 19 on Mackinac Island: volleyball vs. Division I Central Michigan at noon, women’s soccer vs. former GLIAC member Northwood at 5 p.m.

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MARQUETTE — Mackinac Island may not just be known as a tourist mecca anymore if the athletic teams at Northern Michigan University have any say in it.

The Wildcats will send their second team — their women’s soccer team — to play on the island situated in the Straits of Mackinac between the Upper and Lower peninsulas on a mid-August day.

This NMU team joins the Northern volleyball team that will play for the second straight year at what is both a state park and a residence for several hundred residents year-round.

The Wildcats’ soccer team will square off against former GLIAC member Northwood at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 19, at Great Turtle Park.

The teams most recently met on Oct. 22, 2021, with Northern prevailing 3-0 at the NMU Soccer Field.

Northwood, located in downstate Midland, had been a member of the GLIAC since 1992 before moving to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in 2022.

The GMAC has several other former GLIAC members, including Hillsdale, Ashland, Findlay, Lake Erie, Malone, Ohio Dominican, Tiffin and Walsh. All those schools are in Ohio except Hillsdale, which is in the southern Lower Peninsula about 20 miles from the Ohio border.

In volleyball, those Wildcats will again play NCAA Division I Central Michigan on Mackinac Island in August for an exhibition match, just as they did in 2022.

This year’s match is the same day as the soccer match, Aug. 19, but at noon at the Mackinac Island Public Schools Gymnasium.

Last year, the Chippewas overmatched their Division II opposition in three sets, 25-16, 25-14, 25-20.

Watch the NMU Athletics website at nmuwildcats.com for all things Northern.

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