The NMU men’s soccer team ended their weekend at home with a split. The team secured a win against Purdue Northwest on Friday with a final score of 3-1 but fell to No. 21 Parkside on Sunday, 0-1.

“I felt like throughout the whole week, even though we lost the game on Sunday, this was probably the best weekend we’ve played, with two consecutive games of really high-level football despite the result on Sunday,” Head Coach Alex Fatovic said.

First, the team got the win against Purdue Northwest. In the win, all three goals were scored by three different players. Junior forward Tommaso Lami scored first, followed by freshman forward William Uchenna, and the third and final NMU goal came from sophomore forward Davian Gumbs. Two of the three goals came within a minute of each other, and all three happened within 10 minutes of each other.

“ I didn’t know it’d be a minute, you know? Two goals in a minute is awesome; it’s the best feeling in the world as a coach. But yeah, three goals in 10 minutes-they thoroughly dominated the second half and deserved the win,” Coach Fatovic said.

Although Purdue Northwest was able to score one goal, freshman goalkeeper Nils Cedergren made four saves in the game.

“It was a good performance… a really, really good performance. I felt like we were prepared. The guys responded all week during training, and they understood that they laid an egg the game before, so it was a big one for them. You’re playing great, so just keep doing what you’re doing. We recognized that as soon as they were up a goal, they started to just launch it, and we knew if we picked up that second ball, we would have chances to attack with Tommy, Davian and Will, and all the tools we have up front,” Coach Fatovic said.

Next, the team unfortunately fell to UW-Parkside on Sunday. Even though the team wasn’t able to score, Cedergren allowed only one goal and made five saves during the game.

“ Yeah, for sure, tremendously proud of the guys and their efforts… proud of the efforts, but that’s now expected. They’ve sort of set the standard, and when you lose a game at home, regardless of the the circumstances-whether you play good or not-it’s not good enough for our program anymore,” Coach Fatovic said.

The team has entered GLIAC Conference play and has a few games in a row at home.

On Wednesday, the team hosted St. Cloud. The Wildcats came up short, falling to St. Cloud 0-2. The Wildcats are 4-3-1 early in the season.

This weekend, the Wildcats will host Roosevelt on Sunday at 3 p.m. Roosevelt is new to the GLIAC, making this the first time the teams will face off.

Next weekend, the Wildcats will be on the road, heading to Grand Rapids and Saginaw. First, the team will play Davenport on Friday, Oct. 11. Then, on Sunday, the team will play Saginaw Valley before returning home.

“ We want to be physically and mentally prepared to play, and I think that’s our mindset,” Coach Fatovic said.