NMU men’s soccer is back home after their long road trip which ended with the Wildcats falling short in both games this past weekend. The team traveled to Purdue Northwest and Parkside and lost both games with the final score of each game being 0-1.
“I think it was obviously a tough trip and it was never going to be easy going down and playing Parkside and Purdue,” Head Coach Alex Fatovic said. “It can seem frustrating, but the guys are playing really well and they’re fighting as hard as they can.”
Even though this road trip did not turn out, the team did not let it get them down as they were able to lean on each other and be there for all their teammates during losses this season. The team has not given up on the season, working harder and harder every day to give their all.
“I have full faith in these guys … I’ve never been around a group that’s so willing to respond to disappointments and fight for each other,” Fatovic said. “I think that’s a really good sign, because if you look at our record, and you look from the outside, it could probably look like we’re falling apart but we’re certainly not.”
The team is back on the road this weekend and after losing the last three matches by a score of 0-1, Fatovic will look to his strikers and others to start scoring goals after the defense has played well this season. They will kick off their road trip on Thursday, Sept. 28 at UW-Eau Claire (UW-EC) at 8 p.m.
UW-EC is a Division III soccer program that was in the national tournament last season and will be a test to see where the offense is heading into the final stretch of the season before conference tournaments start. The team will then head to St. Cloud State for their game on Sunday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m.
“They are pretty motivated to kind of turn this thing around, and they better be because Eau Claire is a very good team. St. Cloud … found themselves ahead of us in the standings already so Sunday’s also a big match,” Fatovic said. “For us, we’re going to continue to push the professionalism and the series approach because that’s what’s needed. And that’s the expectation is we’re on the road to win games … we’ve got to find the net.”
