NMU men’s soccer gets rematch 2 weeks after loss to nat’l powerhouse
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MARQUETTE -- Whether it's a challenge that's welcomed or not, the men's soccer team at Northern Michigan University gets a rematch with a national powerhouse team less than two weeks after losing by three goals to them.
The Wildcats travel to University Center between Bay City and Saginaw to take on No. 5 Saginaw Valley State at 2 p.m. today, which will be followed by a relatively short trip west to Grand Rapids to take on Davenport at 11 a.m. Sunday.
The Cardinals won the opener of what will become a three-game series against NMU this season by a score of 4-1 on Sept. 6, a game also played at the SVSU field. Their third scheduled encounter is set to end the regular season at the NMU Soccer Field on Sunday, Oct. 25.
Today's game has one big difference, though, compared to two weeks ago -- this one counts in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, while the first was nonconference.
In fact, today's contest opens the GLIAC season for NMU (3-2), while it will be the second league game for the Cardinals (3-0-2), who defeated Davenport 6-0 on Wednesday at University Center.
Fans can livestream the matches at FloCollege and follow along with live stats by looking under the men's soccer schedule at nmuwildcats.com, as well as follow the official NMU women's soccer social media channels.
One difference, at least for Northern, is that since falling to SVSU less than two weeks ago, the Wildcats posted a 7-1 thrashing of Jamestown at the NMU Soccer Field last Saturday, a game where senior captain Luca Rosen set game and career scoring records.
He scored an amazing four goals, the most in a single game in the decade-long history of the men's soccer program, and overtook original Wildcats player Sam Popp -- he played from 2016-18, the program's first three years -- for the career goal record, now at 17.
Rosen also has eight goals in five games this season, and along with an assist, totals 17 points, leading all of NCAA Division II in goals and points.
Also in that big scoring game, sophomore Ian Weimer and freshman Sergio Cano Castro recorded three assists apiece, Cano Castro also scoring a goal for five points on the day.
"Obviously, Rosen was the star of the show," Northern head coach Alex Fatovic said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend's games. "But some other guys really broke out and had some really big days -- Sergio Cano Castro, Ian Weimer had his best game of the season, the guys in the back were good, and we got to see Carson (Shene) in goal for the first time.
"So, it was a great day overall, and a great way to end nonconference. I was pleased with the overall effort."
Fatovic pointed to the first match vs. the Cardinals, when the score was just 2-1 entering the final 10 minutes before SVSU put the game away.
He says that experience will be beneficial today.
"Going down to Saginaw and having that experience ... was all about our preparation for (today) and playing them again," the coach said. "We were focused on how we didn't do so well against Saginaw earlier last week, and then we focused on the (Jamestown) match, and now we're back to focusing on trying to break down Saginaw and get a result (today) in a big match.
"I think it's going to be a completely different game than what we just played (vs. Jamestown) in terms of the style, but now we have a little bit more understanding of what it's really going to take to try to get some results down there.
"I think what we have to do is not give them any opportunities.... So I think for us it's almost like we have to go and basically give no errors. It's got to be kind of a perfect game. Just not give them anything, and then when we have a moment -- we got to take our chance."
Sunday's opponent Davenport, of course, was the victim of the Cardinals' half-dozen-goal thrashing this week.
Nevertheless, NMU games vs. the Panthers have been close in recent years, with each at 2-2-6 against the other in their last 10 meetings.
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Northern Michigan University's Luca Rosen, right, and Lake Erie's Luka Bekovic get tied up vying for control of the ball at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Sept. 3. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)