NMU men look to stay in thick of GLIAC soccer race
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MARQUETTE -- Just two games into the conference season, the men's soccer team at Northern Michigan University will make its longest road trip of the fall this weekend.
The Wildcats head south to Chicago to take on Roosevelt at 4 p.m. EDT today, then head west to St. Cloud, Minnesota, to take on St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. EDT Sunday.
The good news is that Northern returns home for a pair of games at the NMU Soccer Field the following weekend, first facing Purdue Northwest at 3 p.m. next Friday.
By virtue of last weekend's 2-1 win at national No. 5 Saginaw Valley State and 1-1 tie at Davenport, the Wildcats are in second place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at 1-0-1, with an overall record of 4-2-1.
Looming directly above them is today's opponent, Roosevelt, which is 2-0-1 in the league and 4-0-3 overall. St. Cloud is second-to-last at 0-2-1 and 2-5-1.
Fans can stream both matches online through FloCollege, follow along with live statistics by looking under the men's soccer schedule on nmuwildcats.com, and subscribe to the official NMU men's soccer social media channels for match-day updates.
Last Friday's win at SVSU was a memorable one for NMU as it defeated a top-10 team and exacted a measure of revenge after the Cardinals downed the Wildcats 4-1 just 12 days earlier, also at University Center.
"Unbelievable result," Northern head coach Alex Fatovic said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend's games. "I mean, you don't really plan to go down to Saginaw and get three points. So, in the long run, it was (a) massive (result).
"But I think the biggest thing for us was that we went down there, and there were some things we needed to fix, and the guys did it in training. We focused on it, and then you could see very early on that they were following the game plan to a 'T,' and the first half really showed.
"We had a deserved lead, but Saginaw was really, really good. They're a very, very good team, and they dominated the second half for large portions.
"I was ready to pack it in and get a draw, (and then we got) a piece of magic from (junior Luca) Rosen and (sophomore Ian) Weimer to get the win. So, incredible result."
After Sam Pilgrim put the Wildcats ahead 1-0 in the first half, the lead held for nearly 50 minutes until the host Cardinals tied it with not quite 11 minutes remaining.
With Fatovic admitting he was going to be happy to get the tie and not risk taking the loss, Rosen instead got free and found Weimer streaking toward the SVSU goal and set him up with a pass that scored the game winner with just 2:10 to go.
On Sunday, Rosen scored Northern's lone goal about 14 minutes in, which set the program's career record for points with 42. And he's only been at NMU for about a season and a half.
In the NCAA Power Index rankings that help come up with NCAA Division II tournament spots, five of the top six teams in the Midwest Region are from the GLIAC. At the top is Roosevelt, which is also receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches national poll. SVSU follows, then Northern and Parkside. Former GLIAC member Lake Erie, which the Wildcats defeated 3-2 on Sept. 3, is fifth, with the GLIAC's Purdue NW sixth.
"Yeah, (the GLIAC is) wide open," Fatovic said. "There's five teams that could win it right now, so it's very strong.... It's going to be tough to win, but it's wide open for everybody, which means I think we're going to get a few teams in the NCAA tournament.
"It's tough to sort of pinpoint a favorite at this point."
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Northern Michigan University's Luca Rosen, center, dribbles around a pair of Roosevelt players during the GLIAC Tournament semifinals on Nov. 14, 2025, played at Saginaw Valley State's field in downstate University Center. (Photo courtesy NMU)