Northern Michigan University’s Teun van Gansewinkel, left, kicks high to block a kick by Purdue Northwest's Zach Bautista during their GLIAC game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Nov. 2. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The men’s and women’s soccer teams at Northern Michigan University are playing simultaneously in the semifinals of their respective conference tournaments this afternoon.

Both will be in the Lower Peninsula, though at different schools, with the Wildcat women the No. 5 seed in their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tourney.

They play at 1 p.m. at No. 1 seed and semifinals-finals host Grand Valley State in Allendale.

Then the NMU men take to the pitch at 2 p.m. as the No. 3 seed at University Center, facing No. 2 Roosevelt as the final two rounds are being hosted by No. 1 seed Saginaw Valley State.

Both teams need a semifinal win to reach their respective tourney championships, which just happen to both be scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday back at their semifinal sites.

In the women’s event, the other semifinal pits No. 2 Wisconsin-Parkside vs. No. 3 SVSU at 4 p.m. today, while for the men, the remaining semi has No. 1 SVSU facing No. 5 Davenport at 11 a.m. today.

Each squad of Wildcats won a quarterfinal game to reach today’s semis. The Northern men were at the NMU Soccer Field on Sunday when they needed eight rounds of a penalty-kick shootout to knock off No. 6 Purdue Northwest after the teams tied 2-2 through two overtimes.

The Wildcat women played Tuesday afternoon at No. 4 Ferris State in Big Rapids and won 2-0.

Both teams will likely need to win the GLIAC Tournament for a chance to advance to the NCAA Division II national tourney, though it wouldn’t be impossible, especially for the NMU men, to earn an at-large bid.

Here is some more information on each team:

NMU women

NMU Sports Information reports that fans can stream today’s game at FloCollege.com, with links to live video, live statistics, an illustration of the tourney bracket and a preview all available at the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and looking under the women’s soccer schedule.

This Northern team finished fifth in the nine-team GLIAC with 20 points and a 6-6-2 league record, also going 7-7-5 overall. On an eight-game winning streak, national No. 6 Grand Valley won the conference by a wide margin with 39 points at 13-1 in league and 17-2 overall.

During the regular season, the Lakers prevailed 4-0 in Marquette and 3-0 in Allendale.

For the entire season, captains Hannah Kastamo and Kenna Alexander have propelled NMU. Most recently, Kastamo scored the game winner Tuesday and leads the team in points, while Alexanders also scored in the quarterfinals and extended her streak to five goals in the last five games.

If there’s some encouraging news, GVSU only won 1-0 over No. 8 seed Roosevelt in its quarterfinal, though the Lakers have a 24-3 scoring edge on its opponents during their current eight-game win streak.

Wildcat men

NMU SI says that fans can follow @NMU_Msoc on Instagram and @NMU_Mens_Soccer on X for updates, or look at NMU athletics under the men’s soccer schedule for links to live video, live statistics, an illustration of the tourney bracket and a preview.

Northern finished third in the seven-team GLIAC with 20 points and a 6-4-2 league record, 7-4-6 overall. Roosevelt, which gained a quarterfinal bye in the six-team tourney, was second with 24 points and 7-2-3 conference and 9-3-5 overall records.

In the hard-fought win over Purdue NW, which couldn’t be played until volunteers cleared about three inches of wet snow from the field that morning, Teun van Gansewinkel and Quint van Roij scored in regulation, each off assists from Alessandro Scialanga.

For the year, Luca Rosen lead Wildcats scorers with nine goals and 20 points, also leading the GLIAC in total shots with 86 and shots on goal with 34. Asaf Kristal is first or second in every one of the league’s major goaltending categories.

During the regular season, NMU lost 1-0 at Roosevelt, then won 2-1 over the Lakers in Marquette in the final weekend.

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