This past weekend the NMU men’s soccer team traveled to Eau Claire, Wisconsin and St. Cloud, Minnesota where they came home empty after losing both games. The ‘Cats fell 1-0 in the game against UW-Eau Claire and 2-0 in the St. Cloud State game.
“It wasn’t for lack of effort or opportunities to score, we got scored on one moment against the counter which we knew … St. Cloud was going to do,” Head Coach Alex Fatovic said. “It is a bit of a struggle right now for us, and so we’re going to keep working on it and keep pushing the right notes.”
Despite the team falling short this past weekend they still have a good defense, only allowing 12 goals this season. The ‘Cats are in high spirits, looking at making a playoff run and not hold onto the losses from the season. The team has been training constantly and being able to move on and focus on the next set of games is crucial if the ‘Cats want to host a playoff game.
“We’re in these games and are dominating these games,” Fatovic said. “We’re just having a tough time scoring goals and … we’re going to keep training to try to get better as much as we can and … the guys know that we’re in it. They just need a little bit of luck and a little bit of belief, and I think they have it.”
Despite the five-game losing streak, NMU still has a chance to make a run with a pair of wins this weekend over the top two teams in the GLIAC. Parkside and Purdue-NW are two teams finding a lot of success with goals and the Wildcat defense will look to minimize their opportunities, lifting some of the pressure off the already struggling offensive unit.
“If we can do better on set pieces and not give opportunities to their good players to finish their chances because they finished, they will finish their chances in the box,” Fatovic said. “[Parkside is] obviously a good team … they’ve got a lot of experience and they’re well coached for sure.”
The team will host Parkside on Friday, Oct. 6 at 3 p.m. followed by the Purdue Northwest game on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. As the season starts to come to an end the team will have one home game left on Sunday, Oct. 22 against St. Cloud at 1 p.m.
