In all, the Wildcats play 18 regular-season matches that start the weekend after Labor Day plus the trio of exhibitions between Aug. 22 and 26.

Though the exhibitions should help get their game in order, NMU has just four nonconference matches before the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season starts on Friday, Sept. 19, in Chicago against the league’s newest full member, Roosevelt.

It’s a straight shot through to the end of the regular season on Thursday, Nov. 6, a league encounter at Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Indiana.

Then comes a likely berth in the GLIAC Tournament, opening with campus-based quarterfinals at the highest four seeds on Monday, Nov. 10.

Northern Michigan University’s Madison Bilbia, center, gets double teamed by Ferris State’s Katherine Welsh, left, and Brinley Bell but is able to get control of the ball to pass it to a teammate during their GLIAC women’s soccer game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

After that are the tourney semifinals on Nov. 14 and finals on Nov. 16 at the pitch — that’s soccer talk for “field” — of the highest-remaining seed after the quarterfinals.

And if it’s anything like the last three seasons, they’ll have the NCAA Division II national tournament awaiting them as Thanksgiving nears. They’ve had dates at that dance in 2022, 2023 and 2024, all under now-departed head coach Jon Sandoval.

New head coach Erin Egolf will try to keep that tradition going after she got to see her new team in action three times during exhibitions in the late winter and early spring, twice against the Marquette United under-18 boys team and also on the road to face the Wisconsin-Stevens Point women’s collegiate squad.

Division II Stevens Point also provides the opposition in the Wildcats’ opening exhibition this fall, though this time it will be at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette at 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22.

Two more exhibitions are spaced two days apart, another home match vs. Division II Carroll University at noon on Sunday, Aug. 24, and a road trip to Division III Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on Aug. 26.

Including the summer exhibitions, Northern will play a total of 13 home games at the NMU Soccer Field.

Once the exhibitions are over, NMU takes about 10 days off before playing all four of its nonconference regular-season games in a row and at home. It begins at 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5, against St. Cloud State, then at noon on Sunday, Sept. 7, against Minnesota-Duluth, 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, vs. former GLIAC member Northwood and finally at noon on Saturday, Sept. 13, vs. Ohio-based Cedarville.

St. Cloud, Northwood and Cedarville compiled a combined 35-13-13 record in 2024 that included an NCAA tourney appearance for St. Cloud, conference tourney title game for Northwood and a league semifinal berth for Cedarville.

A week later, the Wildcats jump into their 14-game conference slate and never jump out of it.

And except for the week of the Michigan Tech game in the middle of that stretch and the final game vs. Purdue NW, Northern will play a Friday-and-Sunday schedule through to the end.

It opens at Roosevelt on Sept. 19 and in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to play at Wisconsin-Parkside on Sept. 21.

Then NMU comes home for three straight weeks. There will be a game vs. Grand Valley State on Sept. 26 and Davenport on Sept. 28, then Ferris State on Oct. 3 and Saginaw Valley State on Oct. 5. The latter team, the Cardinals, provides a rematch of the GLIAC tourney championship game in 2024 that Northern won 3-0, also at home.

The schedule is interrupted a bit the last week of the homestand with a single game against Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12. That game has been televised on WLUC-TV6 or Fox-U.P. the past several years, too, though the Wildcats haven’t had a chance to actually host this game at the NMU Soccer Field since November 2023.

The Friday-Sunday treadmill picks up again, with games at SVSU in University Center on Oct. 17 and at Davenport in Grand Rapids on Oct. 19, then at GVSU in Allendale on Oct. 24 and at Ferris State in Big Rapids on Oct. 26.

Northern comes home for a final two-match week, hosting Roosevelt on Oct. 31 and Parkside on Nov. 2, then the final single road match at Purdue NW on Nov. 6.

The full schedule can also be found online at https://nmuwildcats.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule, though the listing may be subject to changes before the season commences.

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