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Sam Cooper
Freshman Sam Cooper gathers a touch in the preseason friendly against UW-Green Bay

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

PREVIEW: NMU Men's Soccer Opens 2026 This Weekend

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The NMU men's soccer team opens the 2026 regular season on the road, traveling to Northwood and No. 25 Tiffin for a pair of matches.

Both games will be live-streamed on FloCollege, and fans will be able to follow along using the LiveStats application provided through nmuwildcats.com. Fans can also follow along with game day coverage on the NMU Men's Soccer official social media channels. 

The 'Cats first face the Timberwolves in Midland, Michigan, on Thursday, August 27, with kick-off set for 7 p.m. ET from Dean Field, marking the season opener for both clubs. The Timberwolves were selected to finish 10th of 11 in the 2026 G-MAC Preseason Coaches Poll after finishing last in the conference with a 0-12-5 overall and 0-11-3 conference record. The Wildcats played Northwood to a 0-0 draw to open the season in Marquette last year.

"Both of [these games] are going to be tough. There are no easy games in Division II soccer," said head coach Alex Fatovic in his weekly media availability. "The parity is unbelievable; you can win or lose any game, so it's going to take a lot of effort and detail this weekend to get results. Both [matches] are going to be a challenge: Northwood has a new head coach; this is his first season, and it's a night game, so they're going to be up for it and trying to get a win for the new coach. They didn't get a win a game last year, so they're hungry for a win, so we are going into a buzz saw on Thursday night."

The 'Cats will then move its gaze three and a half hours south to Tiffin, Ohio, where the Green and Gold will face the Tiffin University Dragons on Sunday, August 30, at 2 p.m. ET from the Paradiso Soccer Field. The 'Cats round out the G-MAC weekend with the preseason favorite, as Tiffin edged out Cedarville for the top spot in the 2026 G-MAC Preseason Coaches Poll, garnering five first-place votes. The Dragons, who enter the weekend as the No. 25-ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches Division II preseason ranking, are the defending G-MAC regular season and tournament champions, have won the G-MAC regular season the past three years, won the G-MAC tournament two of the past three seasons, and have made the NCAA Tournament the past three consecutive years. 

"Tiffin is a game we try to get as it's a fantastic game for us as a program to play elite programs. It's a really hard trip, and that's what this is all about and why we challenge them the way that we do: It's a 10-hour bus ride, two hard games, and in soccer you are right into games that matter for national tournament seeding later down the line." 

When head coach Fatovic was asked about what he's liked during preseason ahead of the upcoming weekend road trip, the gaffer noted that his squad for 2026 has a good amount of depth at his disposal for not only this weekend, but the remainder of the season.

"We're like 20 [players] deep, [our coaching staff] feels like. We have 19 or 20 players who we feel we could put on the field at any time and do a job. Obviously, we have our top guys that are 90-minute guys, and then we have who we like to call our 'game changers'. These are guys who come off the bench and provide a different impact in different situations, and we feel really good about that."

Fans can watch head coach Fatovic's full media availability from the video below.







 
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