Northern Michigan University’s Triston Nelson, left, keeps the ball away from Quincy’s Alex Lehmann in the corner of the field in an effort to run down the clock late in their game played at the NMU Soccer Field on Sept. 3. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University men’s soccer team has a big challenge ahead of it as the Wildcats look to leap over the .500 mark this weekend on the road.

NMU, at 2-3-1 overall and 1-1 in the GLIAC, faces a pair of schools with winning records in Purdue Northwest (3-0-3) and Wisconsin-Parkside (2-1-2). These schools tied each other in their only conference game so far.

Northern travels to Hammond, Indiana, to take on Purdue NW at 4 p.m. EDT today, then heads back north to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to play at Parkside at 3:30 p.m. EDT Sunday.

Fans can follow this Wildcats team @NMU_wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) throughout the week. Links for live statistics for each match can be found at the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and looking under the men’s soccer schedule.

In addition, fans can watch the Purdue NW game on JedTV at https://www.jedtv.com/purdue-northwest.html/?utm_medium=sidearm-email&utm_source=nmuwildcats.com&utm_campaign=Men%27s%20Soccer%20Set%20for%20Crucial%20GLIAC%20Road%20Trip&utm_content=e960787b-1efe-434b-88f1-fcf1df2fbfeb.

The Parkside matchup is available on FloFC at https://www.flofc.com/.

NMU head coach Alex Fatovic feels optimistic as he said in a news release previewing the games provided by NMU Sports Information.

“It’s going to be a challenging week, like every week moving forward,” he said. “The positive signs are there that our guys can battle, and we can stay competitive, and we can win this thing if we put some things together.”

Northern goalkeeper Florian Palmowski is second in the GLIAC with 26 saves, a .788 save percentage and 1.17 goals-against average.

Beyond Palmowski, Jan Hoffmann and Kalvin Glodz lead NMU in minutes played with 510 and 508, respectively.

Hoffmann also leads Wildcats’ scorers with three points on a goal and an assist, and paces the team in shots with 17.

Teamwise, NMU is second in the conference in shots taken with 64 and goals with seven.

Last week, Northern split a pair of 1-0 decisions at home to open the GLIAC campaign, defeating Davenport and falling to Saginaw Valley State.

Palmowski made six saves to get the shutout vs. Davenport as forward Jaziel Sainz de Vilmorin averted overtime by scoring the only goal and his first collegiate tally in the 86th minute.

Against the Cardinals, NMU’s Cian Tunney had two shots on goal as the defending GLIAC champion Cardinals scored late in the first half.

Purdue NW drew 1-1 against Parkside in its most recent game to remain undefeated. Pride forward Hugo Lorenzo has scored six goals and last week was named GLIAC Men’s Soccer Player of the Week for the second consecutive time.

Two goalkeepers have split time in the PNW net, combining for a 1.00 GAA and .813 save percentage. The Pride have beaten NMU three straight times.

Parkside is led by Alejandro Martinez with six points as he has three goals, Edgar Heredia with five points on a goal and three assists, and Bryan Torres with four points on two goals.

Rangers goalkeeper Daniyal Rana has played all five UWP matches with a 2.00 GAA and .630 save percentage.

Parkside made it to the NCAA Division II Tournament sweet 16 last fall, and like Purdue NW, has a three-game winning streak vs. the Wildcats.

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