The Northern Michigan men’s soccer team finished the weekend with a tie against Ashland University followed by a 3-1 loss to Ohio Dominican University.

After a scoreless tie going into the second half in Friday’s game against Ashland, freshman center back Ivar Arnason put the Wildcats on the board first with a penalty kick.

Then Ashland’s Justin Kowalski found the back of the net on a counter attack to bring the score to a tie again. After two scoreless overtimes the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Sophomore center back Kevin Hoof said it felt like a loss.

“We made a mistake that young teams will make—just not managing the game very well with time management and what not,” Hoof said. “It sucks but it was a good lesson for us as well.”
Sunday the Wildcats took the field again, this time facing Ohio Dominican. The scoring began when Michael Fragoulis gave Ohio Dominican their first goal of the game.

The Wildcats answered quickly with a goal scored off a penalty shot by Arnason, his second-straight game with a goal from a penalty kick. Ohio opened up the second half with two early goals within a 1-minute span giving them a two goal lead over the ’Cats.

No goals followed as Ohio held on for a 3-1 victory.

Since winning three straight games, which included a victory over the then-undefeated Tiffin University, the Wildcats have gone 0-3-1. Head coach David Poggi says if they learn from their mistakes then they are ahead for better times.

“You’ll go crazy if you get too wrapped up in it,”Poggi said. “You just got to show up the next day to work and get after it with the same passion that you had when you were winning.”

The Wildcats look to better their record during their 2-game road trip this weekend with a  game at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14 Lake Erie and an afternoon game at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16 against Walsh University.