Northern Michigan University’s Tommaso Lami gains control of the ball during a GLIAC men’s soccer game played against Purdue Northwest at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Friday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University men’s soccer team began a home weekend with a big victory over the conference defending champions, then suffered a bit of a letdown after being shut out in its other game against a nationally ranked opponent.

In the end, the Wildcats now stand at 4-2-1, twice the number of victories they had all of last season, and 1-2 in the GLIAC. While NMU resides in sixth place in the seven-team league, it is only a half-game behind second-place Wisconsin-Parkside in the tightly packed standings.

Northern defeated Purdue Northwest 3-1 before being upended 1-0 by No. 21 Parkside.

Coming in the next week are two more home games to complete a four-game homestand. The Wildcats host GLIAC foe St. Cloud State at 2 p.m. Wednesday, then entertain league newcomer Roosevelt at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Here are details from last weekend’s games:

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NMU 3, Purdue Northwest 1

On Friday afternoon at the NMU Soccer Field, the Wildcats matched their biggest output since late in the 2022 season with three goals, which equaled their output against Thomas More two games earlier.

Apparently, a quick goal by the visitors woke up the Northern squad.

“We were a little bit asleep, we were not aware of what was going on,” NMU head coach Alex Fatovic said in an NMU Sports Information news release about the game. “We knew that once they were up a goal, we just had to essentially manage the second ball.”

They more than came back, scoring a trio of goals just barely 10 minutes apart in the second half by Tommaso Lami, William Uchenna and Davian Gumbs.

“We just believed that the ball was going to go in and that happened,” said Lami, the team captain. “This happened because of the defense, all the players on the bench, it was an amazing feeling. I don’t have words to describe it.”

It was also a credit to NMU netminder Nils Cedergren, who finished with four saves, three of them in the first half as Northern held advantages of 17-10 in overall shots and 9-5 in shots on goal.

Despite falling behind early, the Wildcats had a strong start as Lami whipped a cross into the 18-yard box that wasn’t converted, according to NMU SI. He also had a strike to the bottom left corner of the net in the fifth minute that Pride goalie Tomas Rozman saved.

Then in the 26th minute, PNW’s Rami Hassan Zantout received the ball outside the arch of the 18-yard box, and fired it into the bottom right corner, just out of Cedergren’s reach, NMU SI said.

By halftime, each team had five shots on goal along with two yellow cards. NMU also had three of the four corner kicks at that stage.

Still trailing, NMU came out relentlessly in the second half, hitting the Purdue NW crossbar not once, but twice, on boots by Alessandro Scialanga, who ripped a shot on a free kick, and seconds later by Max Rebori after he volleyed the ball off a cross, according to NMU SI.

In the 62nd minute, Lami dribbled into the center of the field right outside of the 18, fired a shot into the left corner and tied the game.

Not even a minute and a half later, Northern’s Finn van den Berg slipped it past a defender to teammate Jan Hoffmann, who redirected the ball across the net and found the foot of Uchenna. The latter volleyed it into the bottom left and the Wildcats suddenly had the lead.

Then just for insurance about 8 1/2 minutes after that, NMU’s Jaziel Sainz de Vilmorin played a beautiful service into the box as Gumbs was on the other end to knock it home and make it 3-1, NMU SI said.

For all three scorers, it was their second goal this season, including the first game-winner for Uchenna.

Assists were credited to Hoffmann, Sainz de Vilmorin and van den Berg.

NMU added four more corner kicks in the second half while not giving up one then.

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Wisconsin-Parkside 1, NMU 0

On Sunday afternoon back at the NMU Soccer Field, the cards went a-flyin’ — there were three ejections due to a trio of red cards issued, and seven more yellow cards were also handed out.

Just before Northern was tagged with the first red card — leaving the Wildcats a man short for the last 70 minutes — Parkside’s Mario Bolado scored the only goal in the 19th minute.

He took a free kick from far out, firing it into the 18-yard box, where NMU got an unfortunate foot on the ball that knocked it in.

Less than a minute later, Uchenna received a red card to leave Northern with 10 attackers on the field. But the Wildcats wouldn’t allow another goal.

“At the end of the day, tremendous effort from our guys,” Fatovic said in an NMU SI release on the game. “They just played down a man for 55 minutes and had a ton of chances to tie it, but we also put ourselves in a bad position and gave them some chances.

“We had great energy, effort and intensity, but it’s hard to dig yourself out against one of the top teams in the country (playing down a man).”

Cedergren did his job, making five saves, a career high, four of them in the second half.

“(Nils) has been solid all year long,” Fatovic said. “He’s been cold as ice, and you want that from your goalkeeper. Stellar play from a freshman, he kept us within striking distance, and he’s getting better every day.”

For the day, Northern held a 23-10 overall shots advantage as each team had six shots on goal.

The Rangers drew the other red cards, evening the sides at 10 apiece in the 75th minute, then actually leaving Northern with a man advantage, but only for the final 2:09.

Despite multiple looks as time ran down, a clearing shot rolled into the Wildcat half when time expired.

NMU also had eight of the game’s nine corner kicks. Lami took five shots to lead Northern in that category, while Teun Van Gansewinkel was the only Wildcat with two shots on goal.

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