Local Sports

Hard work pays dividends: Wildcat men’s soccer draws first-round bye in NCAAs

Wildcat men’s soccer draws first-round bye in NCAAs

MARQUETTE -- All that hard work in the regular season is paying off with a first-round bye and No. 5 seed for the men's soccer team at Northern Michigan University.

While the seed number of "5" might not sound that impressive, it really is as it's the Wildcats' position in its NCAA Division II tournament super region that contains 10 teams.

With that number of teams, only the top six avoided a first-round game that was scheduled for play on Friday.

In the Midwest-flavored Super Region 3, NMU will have a fairly even matchup to open the event, playing No. 4 seed Findlay at the Oilers' home field in Findlay, Ohio, at noon Sunday.

Three other schools made the NCAAs from Northern's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Regular season champion Saginaw Valley State, which like Northern bowed out in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals, grabbed a No. 2 seed and gets to the host a game, also at noon Sunday. The Cardinals (9-1-7) face a Missouri school, either No. 7 seed Maryville (11-4-4) or No. 10 Drury (11-4-3) after they played Friday.

The other two GLIAC combatants were also facing each other on Friday, No. 8 Roosevelt (8-4-7) and No. 9 Purdue Northwest (11-6-2), in the same half of the bracket as NMU.

That Friday winner takes on No. 1 Lincoln (Missouri) and its 15-0-4 record at 4 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln's field.

The other second-round matchup in the region is No. 3 Fort Hays State (15-2-3) of Kansas hosting No. 6 Lake Erie of Ohio (11-4-4) at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Sunday's winners square off again next Friday, presumably at the higher-seeded team's field, though that wasn't expressly stated on the NCAA website, ncaa.org.

If Northern advances, it would play Lincoln, Roosevelt or Purdue NW.

The nationals don't wrap up until the first week of December. The final four to be played in Kansas City, Missouri, features the semifinals on Thursday, Dec. 3, and national championship on Saturday, Dec. 5.

Just by earning its high seed and first-round bye, the Wildcats have advanced further than they ever have in program history, since last year's first appearance in the nationals resulted in a No. 10 seed and first-round exit to No. 7 Cedarville 1-0 in the opening round.

Northern so far is 10-6-2 this season, including a 7-3-2 GLIAC mark that resulted in 23 points, just two points shy of first-place SVSU (7-1-4 GLIAC).

Purdue NW was third at 6-5-1 in league and 19 points, while Roosevelt was 4-4-4 in the GLIAC for fifth with 16 points, but insured its spot in the big dance with a 3-2 victory over Purdue NW in the league tourney championship game played at SVSU's field on Sunday.

NMU is trying to regain the momentum it had in the second half of the season. The Wildcats were 8-2-2 right until the final regular-season match, a 2-0 setback to Saginaw Valley at the NMU Soccer Field that handed the regular season title to the Cardinals.

Northern then traveled to SVSU's University Center field for the semis and lost 1-0 to conference tourney No. 3 seed Purdue NW.

But ever-optimistic Northern head coach Alex Fatovic knows what his team now faces is a lot bigger than what happened in the past two games.

"At the end of the day, we've done enough over the course of the season to still be playing," Fatovic said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing Sunday's game. "Of the 202 NCAA D-II men's soccer programs, the Wildcats were good enough to solidify itself as one of the best in the region, and one of just 40 teams to still be playing."

For fans interested in making the trip to Ohio, they can go online to purchase tickets at events.hometownticketing.com/boxoffice/ufoilers/L2VtYmVkL2V2ZW50LzMwND9zaW5nbGU9MQ%3D%3D.

Fans not quite so ambitious can watch live streaming online at NCAA.com, follow the official NMU men's soccer social media pages for updates, or visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the men's soccer schedule for links to live statistics, ticket information and a preview.

Findlay (13-5-2), a former member of the GLIAC until about a decade ago, now plays in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, winning its league tournament as the Oilers have made the NCAAs for the second time in three years but are hosting an NCAA match for the first time.

Both teams in Sunday's matchup have some highly decorated players. Northern boasts the GLIAC Freshman of the Year in Sergio Cano Castro, who returns to the lineup after too many yellow cards meant a suspension for the league tourney semis, and GLIAC First Teamers Luca Rosen and Marcos Gallardo Rozano.

Rosen was not only a senior captain, but led the nation in goal scoring during the early and middle portions of the season and is now just a couple goals off the national lead.

Findlay counters with senior defender Andre Sardinha, who became the first Oiler to be named G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year. Senior Carson Oberski made the G-MAC First Team with a league second-best eight goals and five game-winners, while fifth-year forward Tom Middleham made the G-MAC Second Team.

Northern and Findlay have met twice, each in GLIAC matches in NMU's inaugural 2016 season. The Wildcats' first-ever shutout was a 2-0 win over the Oilers on Sept. 25, 2016, while Northern also won 1-0 a month later on Oct. 23, 2016.

Though Fatovic hasn't personally had one of his NMU teams play Findlay, he's familiar with other Ohio teams in the G-MAC, including Tiffin and Lake Erie that Northern played before Labor Day, splitting those games against what would become the top two teams in that league.

The coach notes that it will be "an interesting matchup" against a team that is "spirited" and "plays for each other."

The Oilers were on a three-game winless streak before cruising through the G-MAC Tournament.

"There's a bit of pedigree there in terms of their culture and how hard they play," Fatovic said about the Oilers. "It is going to be a similar GLIAC (kind of) game in terms of it being a direct game and trying to deal with a lot of long balls and headers and the ball in the air.

"And so I think we're prepared for that. We like that matchup because we train it, we understand it, and we know what's coming. We just got to get used to the surroundings."

By the time the second round begins, there will be 32 teams left in the national tourney, and only 16 after Sunday's games are over.

"For us, it's not about trying to play the way we necessarily want to play," the NMU coach said. "It's about surviving and advancing. That's the time of the year it is."

Story contents based on a Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.