The wins not only insured that NMU will host a quarterfinal game to start the conference tournament this weekend — for only the second home playoff game in program history — but helped deny Roosevelt a chance at repeating as the regular season champion in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The latest player of the week from Northern is sophomore forward Ian Weimer as GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week. He follows Luca Rosen twice winning the same award two of the previous three weeks, and Asaf Kristal and Owen Rutledge also earning GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week during the course of the season.

Weimer is from Marietta, Ohio, and at 6-foot-3 is listed as the tallest non-goalkeeper on the Wildcats squad.

He scored a goal in each of NMU’s wins over the weekend, a 2-1 win over Roosevelt and 3-0 victory past Purdue NW. His goal was the game winner vs. the former league leader, Roosevelt.

Northern Michigan University’s Ian Weimer, front left, lets go a shot for a goal scored against Roosevelt in a GLIAC men’s soccer game played at the NMU Soccer Field on Friday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

He played 156 of a possible 180 minutes over the two games, firing three shots with both his shots on goal becoming goals.

As a result, the Wildcats finished in third place in the conference with records of 6-4-2 in league and 7-4-5 overall, setting up Sunday’s 1 p.m. match against Purdue NW at the NMU Soccer Field in the GLIAC quarterfinals. That will be a rematch of this past Sunday’s regular-season-concluding match.

“Well-deserved award for Ian!” said Northern head coach Alex Fatovic in an NMU Sports Information press release announcing the award. “He has been absolutely lethal for the last few weeks. Every touch, every shot and his overall work rate have been instrumental in our recent run of form, and then he adds two goals to help us cap off a great senior weekend.”

Weimer, who now has four goals and an assist this season for nine points, two of the goals game winners, is smashing all the numbers he put up as a freshman in 2024. He’s tied for fifth in game-winning-goals per game and ninth in goals per game in the GLIAC.

His goals, points and game-winning goals are all second on the Wildcats only behind Rosen, who has nine goals, two assists and 20 points along with four game-winners. Rosen is second in the league in goals, points and game-winning goals.

Here is a roundup of last weekend’s action:

NMU 2, Roosevelt 1

On Friday afternoon at the NMU Soccer Field, Weimer’s goal early in the second half posted Northern to a 2-0 lead and proved to be the game winner after the Lakers pulled closer about 13 minutes later.

A win in this game and against Wisconsin-Parkside on Sunday would’ve insured Roosevelt won the GLIAC regular-season title, but instead, this Chicago team lost to Northern and played Parkside to a scoreless tie to finish in second place to Saginaw Valley State.

SVSU (10-2-4 overall) came in at 9-2-1 in league games for 28 points, while Roosevelt (9-3-5 overall) was 7-2-3 for 24 points. The Wildcats had 20 points for third, and are set up to play Roosevelt in the tournament semifinals if they get past Purdue NW on Sunday.

That’s because the top two seeds received byes in the quarterfinals as six of the league’s seven teams made the tourney.

On Friday, Roosevelt had to come north to play in cold, windy conditions in view of Lake Superior.

“Another massive team win,” Fatovic said to NMU SI after this game. “Everybody put in a shift. (Roosevelt is) the defending champions and first-place hopefuls for a reason.

“You’re always going to get a champion’s best effort, and it wasn’t easy to see this one out, but we showed our toughness, grit, ability to defend leads and manage leads while we’re ahead. We’re peaking at the right time.”

A defensive struggle for almost 40 minutes, Alessandro Scialanga scored with 5:26 left in the first half on a screamer of a free kick from just inside the halfway line, according to NMU SI.

“(Scialanga) is absolutely massive for our team,” Fatovic said. “He’s an even better person than he is player, and I think he’s the best left back in the country, so that speaks highly to who he is as a leader for our team.

“For him to come back from an injury a couple weeks ago, help his team, and then scores a goal like that, it’s an unbelievable story.”

In a yellow-card-filled game — there were seven issued, four to NMU — it was Roosevelt’s Nikola Dimitrijevic who received the lone red card, disqualifying him and leaving the Lakers down to 10 men for the rest of the game.

That occurred about 2 1/2 minutes after Scialanga’s goal for elbowing Rosen in the head.

Coming out of halftime with that man advantage, Weimer needed 3:38 to make it 2-0. He connected on a Rosen cross that was headed away by a Roosevelt defender, but also caught Weimer’s head for the redirection in.

“(Weimer) is opening doors for us as a team,” Fatovic said. “He’s playing the (No.) 9 (position) exactly how we want the 9 to play, and that has allowed us to place our other players in the right position.

“He’s been massive for us, and he’s just getting better every single day.”

Then with not quite 30 minutes remaining, the Lakers pulled back within one when Fynn Mewes played a perfect through ball to teammate Oskar Schuster, who’s run was timed perfectly to get behind the Northern defense. He beat out

Still, Kristal helped negate Roosevelt advantages of 16-14 in total shots and 10-5 in shots on goal, making nine saves. The Lakers also had seven of the game’s 10 corner kicks as NMU also took more fouls, 18-9.

Teun van Gansewinkel led Wildcats players with five total shots and two shots on goal.

NMU 3, Purdue NW 0

On Sunday afternoon at the NMU Soccer Field, Rosen had a two-goal “brace,” much like a hockey three-goal hat trick, before Weimer added a final insurance goal in the last 10 minutes.

Despite the rather lopsided score, the visiting Pride outshot Northern 16-14 in total shots and 9-6 in shots on goal, also taking three of the game’s five corner kicks as the Wildcats committed more fouls, 18-10, and took more yellow cards, 6-3.

But it was Purdue NW that was issued the game’s only red card, to Demian Martinez with just under 30 minutes remaining, that gave Northern a man advantage for the game’s last half hour.

NMU SI noted that Martinez will also be ineligible to play in this Sunday’s GLIAC quarterfinal, Northern’s rematch with the Pride.

“This program means a lot to me and my family,” Fatovic said in NMU SI’s release about this game. “To see the guys grow, not only in the last four years, but the even just the last few weeks, how we turned a really bad weekend into three straight wins … I’m just so proud of the guys.

“We’re third in the conference, and we’re proud of that, but every day is a climbing day for us, and they definitely had another climb (Sunday).”

Rosen had what NMU SI termed “a pair of wonder-goals” to move him into second place alone for goals in a season in program history. His nine are just one shy of the record 10 posted by Sam Popp in 2018.

“When (Rosen) gets isolated, he’s going to have a chance to score, and when the combination (of Weimer and van Gansewinkel) is working on the far side of the field, (Rosen) is going to be wide open.

“And Ian Weimer getting on the scoresheet again, he’s just getting better every game, and his great form has allowed someone like Luca to go and get his goals.”

Among the players honored in their final regular-season game on Senior Day were Scialanga, forwards Jan Hoffmann, Max Rebori and Triston Nelson, and goalkeepers Harry Gray and Mads Huegel.

“I’m really proud of the seniors, especially the big ones in Jan (Hoffmann) and Alessandro (Scialanga),” Fatovic said. “To see the seniors playing at this level at the end of their careers, it means a lot, because this whole group has put in the time and energy, and I am really grateful of that.”

NMU almost scored before the game was four minutes old, Rosen playing a good pass to van Gansewinkel for the original shot saved by PNW. But the latter also had a rebound header shot that hit the crossbar.

Then a few minutes later, the Pride hit a post of its own, all going for naught.

Then in the 23rd minute, naught-naught was no more when an NMU free kick was played by Tyler Kowalczyk, who slid a pass to Rosen and he slammed the ball home.

Rosen doubled his output about 30 minutes late, and about 7 1/2 minutes into the second half, when Rutledge played a long ball to a racing Rosen on the left side before cutting into the top of the box. Rosen let go a curling shot that went in the upper right corner of the net.

Then with just over eight minutes remaining and PNW down a man, Nelson came on as a substitute to start a fast break with Weimer, the latter taking a pass after splitting the Pride defenders, according to NMU SI.

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