NMU men in prime position despite being 3rd in GLIAC
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MARQUETTE -- For a former first-place team that was swept last weekend, the men's soccer team at Northern Michigan University is still in an unenviable position.
These Wildcats control their own destiny -- and they'll conduct their business at home.
Two weeks remain in the regular season as NMU, which led the conference by three points a week ago, is still within a single point of co-leaders Saginaw Valley State and Roosevelt.
Northern is 7-4-2 overall and 4-2-2 for 14 points in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Meanwhile, SVSU is 6-1-5 and 4-1-3 with 15 points, while Roosevelt is 6-2-5 and 4-2-3 also with 15 points.
You may notice that Roosevelt has played one more league game than the other two, giving the Lakers a less likely chance to stay at the top.
But the Wildcats are in the catbird's seat as they control their own destiny, playing both leaders in the final four regular-season games. That quartet of contests are at their home NMU Soccer Field, too.
First, though, Northern has to concentrate on a league game against last-place St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. today, otherwise the games against the top dogs would become much less meaningful.
Roosevelt is on deck at 3 p.m. Sunday. Then in a week, the Wildcats host the other last-place team, Davenport, at noon next Friday, with SVSU on tap to close out the regular season at noon on Sunday, Oct. 25.
The GLIAC Tournament opens with quarterfinal games the following Saturday, Oct. 31, with the semifinals and finals another week later.
NMU was blanked on the road a week ago, falling 2-0 at Wisconsin-Parkside and 1-0 at Purdue Northwest. The Lions moved within a single point of the Wildcats with their win on Sunday.
Northern had climbed atop the GLIAC with a seven-game unbeaten streak -- a 5-0-2 record -- immediately preceding last week's blankings.
"I think the tendency when anybody loses two straight games after going seven unbeaten is probably to overreact and to think the sky is falling," Wildcats head coach Alex Fatovic said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend. "We’re certainly not going to do that.
"I think there were little things across the course of the week that maybe didn't directly lead to the results, but I believe in the accumulation effect. And when you do things perfectly for seven weeks, things start to slip, and I think we'll address those things through the course of time."
NMU is still receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches national poll after cracking the top 25 the week previous.
Fans can stream both of this week's matches on FloCollege, follow along with live statistics provided through nmuwildcats.com, and subscribe to the official NMU men's soccer social media channels for coverage.
The Wildcats are a perfect 4-0-0 at the NMU Soccer Field this season, not losing there in more than a year. Last week's "medicine" may be just what "Doctor" Fatovic ordered.
"That's how it is in the GLIAC," he said. "In the grand scheme of things, the best thing that we needed at this point in time is a humbling and a wakeup call.
"If these guys want to do something special, it's about doing everything right, not just showing up for the game.
"If you asked me in June, 'Would you want this situation?' I think I'd probably take it at that point.... We will train hard, we will evaluate where we made mistakes, and you'll probably see an improved group (today)."
The conference is proving to be one of the best in NCAA Division II, with four of the top seven teams in the Midwest Region as shown by the NCAA Power Index that will help determine who makes the national tournament -- SVSU is No. 1, NMU No. 4, Purdue NW No. 5 and Roosevelt No. 7.
Senior captain Luca Rosen has provided the offensive power for the Wildcats after he's already rewritten much of the Northern record book for scoring and shot-making.
He was just named USC Offensive Player of the Month for September nationally earlier this week after he scored nine goals and added three assists for 21 points in the month.
Rosen did lead all players nationally in scoring at one point, and is still just two out of that lead with a dozen goals this season. His 28 points are third, 60 shot attempts second, and 33 shots on goal tied for the top.
"We'll finish our chances, number one, and we need to stop giving teams opportunities to serve balls on us where things can be created like penalties, second balls and moments where we have to defend," Fatovic said. "So for us, we're back home. We should be in charge of the proceedings; we should dominate the game in terms of possession, and we should be the team that the other team has to match in terms of energy."
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Northern Michigan University's Brody Stanton passes the ball toward the net during a game played against Lake Erie College at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Sept. 3. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)