The NMU Men’s soccer team ended their regular season this past Sunday honoring their seniors and tying during their last regular season game. The team hosted St. Cloud and the game ended in 2-2.
With the regular season at a close, the team is looking on into the playoffs where they will play Davenport for a third time. The last two times these teams played each other NMU won 1-0 and the second game came to a 0-0 tie.
“It’s hard to draw any real positives from the regular season in terms of results — but how they battled, how they fought, and how we’ve seen certain guys step up,” Head Coach Alex Fatovic said. “There’s a lot of politics to bring to the table, so these guys know what they’re ready for … If we can finally finish some chances that we create then we’re going to be in this game for sure.”
Since this weekend celebrated the team’s last regular season game, seniors Casey Miller, Keegan Schmidt and Jackson Bowers were honored. Miller, a forward, also celebrated the end to his NMU soccer career with his first goal on Sunday.
“Miller came on it. It really showed that he can be an impact player in this type of game,” Fatovic said.
The Wildcats ended the regular season with a record of 2-9-4. The team has been moving forward and onto their next games trying to improve each week, especially now going into the postseason.
“This is where the culture really needs to play a part — where we rise above some of the adversities we’ve had and play the best game of the season with nothing to lose, and then find yourself one game away from the GLIAC championship,” Fatovic said. “If you lose, everyone’s gonna expect that, but if you win, you’re one year away from the title game. So, we’re gonna go down there and give everything we got … we’ve got a lot a lot of strong senior leaders and we’ll see what we can do.”
The team will head downstate to battle against Davenport on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. If the Cats are able to win the game this weekend against Davenport, the team will go on to the GLIAC championship game.
“Now it’s about performing and executing when it really, really matters, and we’ve been pushing that all season long,” Fatovic said. “I think the culture and how much these guys fought to fight all offseason long will give us a chance.”
