Wildcat men’s soccer gets another chance to reach top of GLIAC
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HAMMOND, Ind. -- It's seems mighty fortunate for Northern Michigan University that the conference men's soccer season didn't end Sunday.
Otherwise, the Wildcats would be quite disappointed to have fallen from the lead on Friday morning all the way to third place by Sunday evening. That came about after Northern was shut out twice over the weekend in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games.
With two weeks and four games left on the schedule, NMU has a chance to claw and scratch its way back to the top of the GLIAC, considering they're only one point behind co-leaders Roosevelt and Saginaw Valley State.
Even better, the Wildcats have a home game left against each of those teams, starting with Roosevelt at 3 p.m. Sunday. Northern also hosts SVSU to end the regular season at noon on Sunday, Oct. 25.
While the Wildcats have their important games vs. the GLIAC leaders coming up, their next game will also be just as critical in setting up the big rumbles, coming at home vs. last-place St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. Friday.
The other team sharing the bottom, Davenport, is also on NMU's docket at noon on Friday, Oct. 23.
Each of the final four regular-season games will be played at the NMU Soccer Field.
The Wildcats got themselves in this predicament by falling 2-0 at Wisconsin-Parkside on Friday and 1-0 at Purdue Northwest on Sunday.
NMU had its seven-game unbeaten streak (a 5-0-2 record) snapped Friday after they had assumed a three-point lead in the league with 14 points. While stuck on that number, Roosevelt and SVSU each won Friday, then fought each other to a scoreless tie on Sunday in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
Northern now stands at 7-4-2 overall and 4-2-2 in the league, while Purdue NW's win got the Lions within one point of NMU with 13 points at 7-3-2 and 4-3-1.
By the way, Roosevelt and SVSU have identical 6-1-5 overall and 4-1-3 GLIAC marks for 15 points.
In Sunday's game, there was more fouling than shooting, and certainly more bumping than scoring as the Lions scored the only goal in the 63rd minute.
Ricardo Cruz scored his second of the season, shooting the ball in the upper left corner of the net, with assists going to Landon Potts and Aloe Berassa.
Though the game wasn't bereft of offense, Purdue NW holding advantages of 11-7 in total shots and 6-5 in shots on goal, the fouls and especially yellow cards began piling up. The Lions committed 15 fouls and were shown seven yellow cards, while NMU took 13 fouls and got lit up with four yellow cards.
With no one was shown more than a single yellow card -- two would've turned into an automatic red card and also automatic ejection -- the game finished as it started, 11 on 11.
Each team also took four corner kicks.
NMU goalkeeper Asaf Kristal made five saves, as did his PNW counterpart Estafano Alvear.
Recent national scoring leader Luca Rosen made his bid for a goal, taking three shots with one on goal, while Sam Pilgrim really starred, getting all three of his shots on target. Additionally, teammate Jonah Wallace took one shot and forced a save out of Alvear.
After falling behind, Pilgrim had probably the Wildcats' best scoring chance in the 79th minute, firing a free kick from just outside the box that Alvear made a diving save on, according to a game account from NMU Sports Information.
A bit later, Northern's Sergio Cano Castro nearly hooked the ball into the upper right corner of the net after an impressive attack sequence got him past multiple defenders.
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Northern Michigan University's Luca Rosen, center, gets between Wisconsin-Parkside players Lucas Ahonen, left, and Nicolas De Andres to gain control of the ball during their GLIAC game played at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Oct. 4. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)