Led by record-breaking Rosen, NMU men’s soccer wins 4-0
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ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Luca Rosen could've started a party with all the men's soccer players at Northern Michigan University scoring points on Sunday.
NMU reached four goals in a game for the third time this season in a 4-0 shutout at conference foe St. Cloud State on Sunday afternoon.
Seven Wildcats tallied points between all the goals and assists that were chalked up, but it was Rosen, the team's junior captain, who was still the guest of honor at this party.
That's because he not only had both a goal and an assist, but his 11th goal broke the program's season record that had been 10 set by Sam Popp in 2018.
In contrast, teammate Vinni DaSilva notched his second goal of the season on Sunday, while James Carr and Asa Dean each got their first.
Rosen, Sergio Cano Castro, Davian Gumbs and Sam Pilgrim all recorded an assist.
Catching up to the number of games other teams in the conference have played, Northern moved into a tie for top spot in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference. NMU joins Roosevelt with 2-0-2 league records as the Wildcats are 5-2-2 overall.
St. Cloud fell to the league basement at 0-3-1 and is also 2-6-1 overall.
Northern comes home for two games this weekend at the NMU Soccer Field, hosting Purdue Northwest at 3 p.m. Friday and Wisconsin-Parkside at noon Sunday. Purdue NW is in third place, just a point behind the co-leaders.
On Sunday in Minnesota, the game was scoreless until the 38th minute despite NMU finishing with a dominant 14-4 advantage in total shots and 8-2 in shots on goal.
About 10 minutes in, DaSilva made a bid for the opening goal, lofting a high-arcing shot ready to sneak under the crossbar if Huskies goaltender Erik Willke hadn't punched it away, according to a game account from NMU Sports Information. Rosen also had a good opportunity that just missed right, while teammate Marcos Gallardo Rozano also just missed with a free kick.
Carr did make it 1-0 with 7:40 remaining before halftime. Rosen drove into the left corner, then sent a crossing pass to Carr, who fired it into the net on his first touch, according to NMU SI.
Still a one-goal lead coming out of intermission, Rosen needed barely five minutes to set his record while making it 2-0.
Cano Castro sent a cross to Rosen on the left, the latter firing it into the upper left corner of the net.
Another 26 1/2 minutes later, DaSilva knocked home a deflection off a St. Cloud defender, while less than three minutes after that, Dean beat his defender one-on-one after Pilgrim sent the ball deep from beyond midfield.
Northern goaltender Asaf Kristal made two saves for his first shutout this season.
The Wildcats took five of the game's six corner kicks and were whistled for fewer fouls, 11-9, while only being shown one of the contest's four yellow cards.
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Northern Michigan University men's soccer players celebrate on the NMU Soccer Field during a game earlier this season. (Photo courtesy NMU)