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Northern Michigan University

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Xhoel Lutaj and Luca Rosen

Men's Soccer Braden Golisek - Assistant Director of Sports Information

PREVIEW: Men's Soccer Looking for Rebound at Home

The Wildcats were held scoreless in back-to-back losses for the first time since 2024

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The final stretch is here for NMU men's soccer, as the Wildcats play its final four regular-season GLIAC matches on home turf, starting with a pair this weekend.

NMU returns home after snapping its seven-game unbeaten streak and being shut out in two straight losses, something that has not happened in a pair of back-to-back results to NMU since the 2024 campaign

The Wildcats fell behind to a penalty kick in the 25th minute - the Rangers' only shot in the first half - en route to falling 2-0 to Parkside, its first loss of the season since the beginning of September at the hands of #6 Saginaw Valley. In a hot Sunday matchup against Purdue Northwest, the Lions found the eventual game-winning goal an hour in, and would hold out 1-0 despite the 'Cats generating chances.

"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. We're certainly not going to do that," added head coach Alex Fatovic in his weekly media availability. "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."

The (RV) Wildcats (7-4-2, 4-2-2 GLIAC, 3rd - 14 pts) host the St. Cloud State Huskies (4-8-2, 2-5-2 GLIAC, 6th - 8 pts) on Friday, October 16, at 3 p.m. ET, and the Roosevelt Lakers (6-2-5, 4-2-3 GLIAC, T1 - 15 pts) on Sunday, October 18, at 3 p.m. ET.

Fans can stream both matches on FloCollege, follow along with live stats provided through nmuwildcats.com, and subscribe to the official NMU men's soccer social media channels for constant coverage.

Marquette is an advantage for the Wildcats, who are a perfect 4-0-0 in 2026 and haven't lost at home in over a year. Although the weekend results were disappointing, head coach Fatovic thinks the losses may have been the fork-in-the-road moment that his team needed.

"That's how it is in the GLIAC... in the grand scheme of things, the best thing that we needed at this point in time is a humbling and a wake-up 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 on Friday."

With the regular season winding down, it's crunch time for every team in the conference. From the league-winning hopefuls to the teams fighting to stay alive and earn a spot in the GLIAC postseason tournament, each game is equally as critical.

The GLIAC is one of the toughest conferences in Division II college soccer, as four of the top seven teams in the region for NPI ranking belong to teams in the conference: Saginaw Valley (#1), Northern Michigan (#4), Purdue Northwest (#5), and Roosevelt (#7), who the Wildcats get a meeting with on Sunday. 

The Wildcats control its own destiny in the final two weekends at home, as the Green and Gold sit just one point behind first place and are fourth in the regional NPI rankings, the model used for selecting the teams who will participate in the NCAA Tournament.

A big part of the Wildcat success has been the continued success of senior captain Luca Rosen, who is rewriting the NMU soccer record books and was named United Soccer Coaches Offensive Player of the Month for September across all of Division II soccer. In seven games during the month, he scored nine goals and three assists for 21 points. At the time of writing, Rosen's 12 goals on the season are just two off the national lead, his 28 points are third nationally, his 60 shot attempts are second nationally by only one, and his 33 shots on goal are tied for first. 

Rosen and the Wildcats were held scoreless over last weekend's two matches. You can't win soccer games if you don't score goals, but head coach Fatovic isn't concerned with the effort his team gave in both matches.

"Every game is a battle. You can't take your foot off the gas for one second. [You'll play] one team that's playing for a championship, and then the next game's one team is playing for survival. So, you're getting a fight every game, and it is really hard to be perfect every single game. I give my guys a lot of credit for their performance in the loss. They didn't do enough to win, but they certainly played well. If they were coming out there with low energy and played with a level of complacency and just didn't care about the games, then I would have a level of concern, but that certainly wasn't the case."

As mentioned above, the Wildcats have a weekend of two sides of a coin with its opponents. The 'Cats start with St. Cloud State, who is battling for the sixth and final spot into the GLIAC Tournament, before turning its attention to Roosevelt, who is currently first in the conference and a top team in the region.

The messaging stays the same as it has been all season: one game at a time. And being back on home pitch gives the Wildcats the most control of its own destiny.

"Well, 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. 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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Players Mentioned

Luca Rosen

#10 Luca Rosen

F
5' 7"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Luca Rosen

#10 Luca Rosen

5' 7"
Senior
F