NMU men lose in penalty-filled contest at No. 6 SVSU
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UNIVERSITY CENTER -- The men's soccer team at Northern Michigan University lost to a nationally ranked team for the second time in this young season on Sunday afternoon.
The Wildcats fell to No. 6 Saginaw Valley State 4-1 at the Cardinals' field to slip to 2-2 during its nonconference slate. NMU also lost to No. 25 Tiffin on the road on Aug. 30, while posting wins of 4-1 over Northwood and 3-2 over Lake Erie.
Northern senior captain Luca Rosen scored his fourth goal in four games when he evened the score 1-1 in the 22nd minute. He took an indirect free kick at the top of the six-yard box, with sophomore Sam Pilgrim getting the assist for his first point at NMU.
Rosen almost tied it again with around 10 minutes left in the game when he was denied point-blank by SVSU goalkeeper Nick Kay.
The Cardinals remained undefeated at 2-0-2 as Sunday's combatants meet again at University Center to open the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season at 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18.
Before that, the Wildcats host the University of Jamestown (North Dakota) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
By the way, NMU will get a shot against SVSU in Marquette to end the regular season on Sunday, Oct. 25.
On Sunday, SVSU scored the first goal not quite 10 minutes in from Amadou Kouyate, who took a pass from Adrian Hatman and went 1-on-1 with Northern goaltender Asaf Kristal. The Wildcats netminder came out of his net to cut down the angle, but Kouyate still managed to beat him around the far post.
With the Cards holding an 8-3 edge in shots on goal, along with a 12-7 advantage in total shots, Kristal finished with four saves, all coming in the second half.
Rosen's goal was set up when Kay picked up the ball played back to him by one of his defenders, according to an NMU Sports Information account of the game. NMU was awarded its indirect free kick after Kay was shown a yellow card.
Those cautions would come back to bite the Wildcats late in the game.
Before that, though, SVSU scored what proved to be the game winner barely more than five minutes after Rosen's tally in the 27th minute.
That was when Hatman was awarded a penalty kick that he converted to make it 2-1, where it would stay not just until halftime, but until the game's final 10 minutes.
Soon after Rosen's point-blank denial at the SVSU end, the host team turned around and 20 seconds later, the Cards' Matty Telfer popped the ball behind Kristal for a 3-1 lead with 9:16 remaining.
After NMU midfielder Tyler Kowalczyk and head coach Alex Fatovic were each shown yellow cards late in the first half, both took another yellow card about three minutes after Telfer's goal, automatically turning them into red-card ejections and leaving Northern a man short on the field.
Telfer took advantage of that situation for his second goal in less than eight minutes, scoring with 1:54 left for the final margin.
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Northern Michigan University's Luca Rosen, left, takes a shot that would be covered by Lake Erie goalkeeper David Ruiz Ospina, right, during their game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette last Thursday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)