NMU men’s soccer loses for first time in GLIAC
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Northern Michigan University's Davian Gumbs, right, does some fancy footwork to keep the ball away from Wisconsin-Parkside's Stefan Zekanovic during their GLIAC men's soccer game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
The Wildcats lost for the first time in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, now standing at 7-3-2 overall and 4-1-2 in the league, good for 14 points.
Both second-place teams, Roosevelt and Saginaw Valley State, had a chance to also reach 14 points with victories later Friday afternoon. Both those contenders were playing the teams tied for the bottom of GLIAC, Roosevelt hosting Davenport and SVSU at St. Cloud State.
Northern generated plenty of offense Friday, taking 15 shots in all, but only had five on goal. Parkside was more efficient, getting seven on goal among its 11 total.
NMU also had five corner kicks to the Rangers' three. The Wildcats had their chances in the first half, taking six shots, though only one was on goal. The Wildcats had a goal kick and a corner kick before the game was five minutes old, while senior captain Luca Rosen took his first shot in the seventh minute.
Northern goalkeeper Asaf Kristal made five saves while having his three-game shutout streak snapped as he gave up two goals.
Rosen, who led NCAA Division II in scoring about a week ago and was still tied for third before this game started, joined teammate Marcos Gallardo Rozano and Parkside's Pablo Seco Zabala and Angel Luevano with three total shots apiece. Northern's Sergio Cano Castro had two shots.
Gallardo Rozano and Cano Castro both finished with two shots on goal, as did the Rangers' Keven Sosa, while none of Rosen's were on target.
Parkside opened the scoring in the 26th minute, not long past the midpoint of the first half, when Sosa converted a penalty kick.
The Rangers added insurance with 16:14 remaining when Luevano knocked the ball past Kristal into the lower left part of the net with an assist going to Hudson Scheiber.
The Wildcats have a chance to insure keeping at least a share of the GLIAC lead when they travel to Hammond, Indiana, to take on fourth-place Purdue Northwest at noon EDT Sunday.
Story contents based on an examination of the game's box score posted on the Northern Michigan University athletics website at nmuwildcats.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.