That was a challenge for these Wildcats just two seasons ago, when NMU barely averaged a half-goal per game over the entire season, hitting the net just 10 times in 16 games during a rough 2-10-4 campaign.

Rosen is nearing that 2023 total all by himself after he was awarded his second GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honor on Monday. He earned it after scoring a “brace,” the soccer version of a hat trick, though it’s only two goals in this notoriously low-scoring sport, in Northern’s 3-0 home win over St. Cloud State on Sunday.

He’s helping keep the Wildcats in the thick of the race in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. NMU improved to 5-4-5 overall and 4-4-2 in the conference, good for a solid fourth place in the seven-team league.

Rosen now has seven goals this season, not only approaching the ’23 team total when he was a freshman, but tallying just over half the current team’s production of 13 goals.

With no other Wildcat having more than two goals, Rosen is tied for second in the GLIAC in goals and is fourth in points with 15. He also leads the league in shots on goal with 27, and leads by a wide margin — 26 shots — for most overall shots taken, 67.

In fact, his 4.79 total shots taken per game is No. 1 in NCAA Division II, while the 1.93 shots on goal per contest is No. 6 nationally.

Rosen earned his first GLIAC weekly honor two weeks ago after Northern upset then-nationally ranked Saginaw Valley State 1-0 in Marquette.

This week’s award came after he scored the only two goals of the second half after teammate Ian Weimer got NMU on the scoreboard in the game’s first 15 minutes.

Rosen’s first goal came after he made a move into the box and was fouled, drawing a free kick that he finished off with a goal. That came with about eight minutes elapsed in the second half.

Then with time winding down — there was 2:55 left — he stole the ball from the last St. Cloud defender and beat Huskies netminder JJ Dufner one-on-one after the goalie had come into the game a few minutes earlier.

Four days before that in a rare midweek game, the Wildcats and Wisconsin-Parkside played to a scoreless tie on a windswept day in southern Wisconsin as Rosen did his part, taking 10 shots with three on target.

“Another great performance from Luca and a deserving award,” Northern head coach Alex Fatovic said in an NMU Sports Information news release announcing the award. “However, what impressed me and his teammates the most were the things that don’t show up in the box score — hard work, tackling, defending and his overall liveliness and determination to fight for every ball.

“Those moments led to his goals. When Luca is on a pen or one-on-one, its automatic with him.”

Rosen had a game-high six overall shots on Sunday, tying for most shots on goal with teammate Teun van Gansewinkel with three apiece.

Weimer knocked in his second goal this season off a header from a perfect cross by James Carr, who earned his team-high third assist.

Even with the wind in their faces, NMU had a 7-3 edge in first-half shots, each team with three on target. For the game, Northern held a 15-8 overall shots and 8-6 shots on goal advantages, also barely winning the corner kicks, 7-6.

St. Cloud was called for one more foul, 10-9, and was whistled for a red card in the 76th minute, leaving the Huskies a man down for nearly 15 minutes to finish the day. Both teams were also shown two yellow cards.

NMU’s Asaf Kristal made six saves for his seventh shutout this season and fifth in the GLIAC. SCSU starting goalie Ramy Atia had four saves and Dufner one.

Northern has just two games left to protect both its four-point lead over fifth-place Davenport and try to make up a similar four points on third-place Wisconsin-Parkside. GLIAC wins earn a team three points and a tie is worth one.

Both games are at the NMU Soccer Field over the next week, a 2 p.m. Friday game vs. league leader Roosevelt (7-1-2 GLIAC) and a 2 p.m. Sunday game vs. cellar dweller Purdue Northwest (1-7-2 GLIAC).

The conference tourney is scheduled for its quarterfinal round on Sunday, Nov. 9, and semifinals and finals another weekend later.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press releases reviewing the team. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.