Northern Michigan University’s Tommaso Lami rushes the ball down the field in a GLIAC men’s soccer game played against Roosevelt at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Sunday, Oct. 6. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — In a sport where wins count as three points and ties as one, the Northern Michigan University men’s soccer team missed the GLIAC Tournament by an excruciatingly close single point after their season ended Sunday.

Finishing its final weekend on the road, the Wildcats pulled off a 1-0 victory at Wisconsin-Parkside on Sunday afternoon after falling at Purdue Northwest 3-0 on Friday.

Those were the two teams that finished just ahead of NMU in the league standings. Northern came in at 6-8-2 overall and 3-8-1 in the GLIAC, good for 10 points, while Purdue NW was the same 6-8-2 overall and a nearly identical 3-7-2 in the conference, which accounted for 11 points.

Parkside was 6-6-4 and 4-5-3, giving it 15 points.

Six of the seven league teams qualify for the GLIAC Tournament, which holds its quarterfinals for the third- through sixth-place teams on Sunday and the semifinals and finals from Nov. 15-17.

Here are details from last weekend:

Purdue NW 3, NMU 0

On Friday afternoon at Hammond, Indiana, in a game that could’ve lifted the Wildcats into the league tourney, Northern held advantages in just about every statistical category except the one that counted, the scoreboard.

NMU beat out the Pride 13-8 in overall shots and 8-5 in shots on goal, and also took eight corner kicks to PNW’s seven.

But Purdue NW got the goal it needed to win in the 29th minute when Martin Murillo scored his first of the season with a shot taken from about 10 feet outside the 18-yard box that dropped into the top right corner of the Wildcats’ net, according to an NMU Sports Information account of the match.

Earlier in the first half, Northern started strong, keeping the ball in the Pride’s end for most of the opening 15 minutes and generating multiple goal-scoring opportunities and even some free kicks.

In the 16th minute, the Wildcats’ Alessandro Scialanga took the ball up the left sideline and was able to get a shot off, but it went into the outside netting of the upper left corner.

Four minutes later, captain Tommaso Lami earned Northern its first corner kick after his shot was saved by Pride goalkeeper Mateus Baptista de Souza.

After Purdue NW scored, the Wildcats showed determination. Just a few minutes later, Lami took a shot from the left side of the 18-yard box. Initially punched out by Baptista de Souza, another NMU player tried to get a second shot off, which looked as if the ball went over the goal line, but the sideline referee called no goal.

Despite trailing at halftime, NMU held 7-4 overall shots and 4-1 shots on goal edges, along with 3-2 on corner kicks.

To start the second half, the Pride’s Tobias Crosariol took a shot, trying to place it into the right corner, but Wildcat goalkeeper Harry Gray made an incredible diving save to keep the ball out.

Then right at the 64-minute mark, PNW’s Jacob Battista punched in his sixth goal of the season with an easy placement into the bottom right corner.

Near the midpoint of the second half, Kyle Cameron earned Northern a free kick right outside the 18-yard box. Scialanga took the kick, but his shot was deflected by Baptista de Souza and eventually cleared out.

With three minutes left, Purdue’s Christian Booth took a missed clearance from the Wildcat defense and scored his sixth of the season. Taking Gray on for a 1-on-1 inside the 18-yard box, Booth placed his kick into the bottom right corner of the net.

NMU 1, Wis.-Parkside 0

On Sunday afternoon in Kenosha, Wisconsin, an overexcited NMU bunch almost cost them this upset after teammate Teun Van Gansewinkel generated all the offense his team needed with exactly one minute remaining.

Just before that, Gray fired a goal kick that landed deep in the attacking end, according to an NMU SI account of the game. Van Gansewinkel corralled the ball down the right side and made two defenders miss. The account exchanged Van Gansewinkel and Jaziel Sainz de Vilmorin’s names, but one of them made a strong move to the right on his strong foot as the ball curled to the upper 90 past outstretched right hand of Parkside’s keeper.

Captain Tommaso Lami, who led Northern with six shots and four on goal, was credited with an assist.

Those teammates chased the scorer down to the opposite end of the benches, and all the players who entered the field from the bench were given yellow cards — that was 13 yellow cards, one automatically converting into a red card for Logan Lazar, who had already been handed a yellow card earlier in the match.

It marked the highest single-game total for yellow cards in program history, but it didn’t end up making a difference as NMU held on for the win, also Gray’s first shutout as a netminder.

The Rangers finished with a 13-12 edge in total shots, though the Wildcats had a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal and took three corner kicks to two for UWP.

NMU came out firing in the second half, outshooting Parkside 8-6 overall and 6-0 in shots on goal.

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