MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Northern Michigan University men's soccer team completed its regular season at home this Sunday, October 22, drawing the St. Cloud State Huskies 2-2.
The 'Cats kicked off against the Huskies for it's Senior Day game, controlling most of the game, despite a final score of 2-2. All of the scoring came in the second half, as the Huskies opened the scoring in the 54th minute. The 'Cats bounced back, starting by scoring a wonder-goal from the revolving boot of senior
Casey Miller, The 'Cats thought they had won the game off
Finn van den Bergs first career goal coming in the 85th, but the Huskies responded with an equalizer in the 87th.
The Wildcats move to 2-9-4 overall, and 1-6-3 in the GLIAC Conference, and the Huskies move to 3-6-5 overall and 3-3-4 in conference play.
Head coach
Alex Fatovic had this to say after the match:
"Overall great performance today, but disappointing result after fighting back to take a deserved lead in the last few minutes. We had 70% possession and 22 shots, and somehow end up with a draw at home. It's simply not good enough in front of goal. However we now move into playoff time, where the only thing that matters is winning. So we rest up, figure out our opponent and get ready to put on our best performance of the year. If we play like we did today, we'll have a chance to beat any team in the GLIAC."
Cat Nips
How It Happened
1st Half
The Wildcats came to play in the opening moments of the half, as
Casey Miller took the first shot attempt of the game. There was a full team effort to take control of the home field advantage, as the 'Cats held the Huskies off from putting any shots on net.
Fernando Abascal showed no remorse in the box as he took an aggressive shot that was stopped by the St. Cloud goalkeeper. Abascal turned right around, corralled his own rebound, and fired another shot attempt, sending one just high of the crossbar.
Northern held off the Huskies from shooting until the 14 minute mark, but the Huskies were still unable to put it on net. The 'Cats controlled a lot of the first half, taking three more shot attempts within four minutes of play.
Casey Miller took a shot from the goalkeeper area that ended up being blocked by a Husky defender.
Keegan Schmidt got his boot to two more opportunities, but couldn't capitalize in front of goal.
St. Cloud was doing everything they could to take the lead over Northern, finally putting a shot on target, but
Jackson Bowers was up to the task, making his first save of the 2023 season.
As the clock wound down, the Wildcats kept possession, and the game remained scoreless going into the 2nd half.
2nd Half
Northern maintained possession going into the second half, as
Jaziel Sainz de Vilmorin had a grand opportunity to score, but the ball grazed just over the crossbar. This gave the Huskies a chance to switch the momentum in their favor. At 53:01, St. Cloud snuck one by the Wildcats, taking the lead 1-0.
Despite both teams battling back and forth in the midfield zone, Northern continued to win battles and rush down the field in efforts to get on the board.
Jan Hoffmann took back-to-back shots, one going high and one barely being stopped by the Husky goalkeeper.
Following these valiant attempts, the teams exchanged possession multiple times, with no outcome. But
Jaziel Sainz de Vilmorin had something to say about that, making a rush to the goalkeeper box. Sainz de Vilmorin passed the ball in the air to
Casey Miller, who did nearly a full bicycle-kick to put the ball into the net. The home bench and fans went wild as they watched this picture perfect goal from one of their seniors. Miller scored at 67:48, tying the score up 1-1.
The 'Cats were grinding for a win in their last home game, making due with any opportunity they had at controlling the ball. As the 'Cats set up in the goalkeeper area with
Jan Hoffmann set to take a corner kick, hoffmann's hit went right to
Triston Nelson, who headed it toward the goal. The ball hit the crossbar and landed in the area of freshman Finn Van den Berg, who jumped into the play and headed it right back over the goalkeeper, scoring the 2nd goal at 84:33, and giving the Wildcats a 2-1 lead.
St. Cloud cloud would go on to score a desperation goal, as a free kick from the 50-yard line was sent into the box and headed past goalkeeper Bowers, evening the score at 2-2 with three minutes of play left.
The Wildcats battled until the very end, but the game remained 2-2 until the final buzzer.
Up Next
The Wildcats get ready for the GLIAC playoff quarterfinals, which will either be Saturday, October 28, or Sunday, October 29. The schedule will get updated once information is released.
