Wildcats clinch a home game in next week’s GLIAC Tournament
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The NMU men’s soccer team played spoiler to open senior weekend, downing the GLIAC regular-season champion hopeful, Roosevelt, 2-1.
The Lakers were on the hunt to leave fate in their own hands, as a win today and a win on Sunday against Parkside would have crowned the Rangers as GLIAC Regular Season Champions for the second consecutive season.
The Wildcats had other ideas to kick-off senior weekend, as the Green and Gold came away with the full three points on a cold and breezy Halloween evening from the NMU soccer field. With a Roosevelt loss and Saginaw Valley win today, the Cardinals were crowned the 2025 GLIAC Regular Season Champions.
The Wildcats also moved up in the standings, as the team now sits one point behind third place Parkside. Should the Wildcats win against Purdue Northwest and the Rangers draw or lose to Roosevelt on Sunday, the ‘Cats will jump into third place in the conference, and host the lowest remaining seed in the first round of the GLIAC post season.
“Another massive team win. Everybody put in a shift [today],” added head coach Alex Fatovic in a post-match press conference. “They’re the defending champions and first-place hopefuls for a reason… You’re always going to get a champions best effort, and it wasn’t easy to see this one out, but we showed our toughness, grit, ability to defend leads, and manage leads while we’re ahead. We’re peaking at the right time.”
The Wildcats (6-4-5, 5-4-2 GLIAC) played the Lakers (9-3-4, 7-2-2 GLIAC), to a scoreless first 40 minutes of play before the ‘Cats opened its account. Senior captain Alessandro Scialanga scored a screamer of a free kick from just inside the halfway line with five minutes to play in the opening period, giving NMU a 1-0 lead to go into the half.
“[Scialanga] is absolutely massive for our team. He’s an even better person than he is player, and I think he’s the best left back in the country, so that speaks highly to who he is as a leader for our team. For him to come back from an injury a couple weeks ago, help his team, and then scores a goal like that, it’s an unbelievable story, but not surprising because he’s such a fantastic human.”
Shortly after the Scialanga goal, Nikola Dimitrijevic received a straight red card ejection for elbowing forward Luca Rosen to the head, and the Wildcats were up a man for 48 minutes to play.
Quickly out of the half, Ian Weimer connected on a Rosen cross to double the Wildcat lead just minutes out of the halftime break. Since being elevated to a higher role halfway through the campaign, Weimer has netted three goals and an assist, including scoring in back-to-back games now, lifting the forward to second on the team in goals scored and points.
“[Weimer] is opening doors for us as a team. He’s playing the nine [position] exactly how we want the nine to play, and that has allowed us to place our other players in the right position. He’s been massive for us, and he’s just getting better every single day.”
After conceding a goal from a perfect passing play at the hour mark, goalkeeper Asaf Kristal locked down the fort the rest of the way, turning aside nine from ten on target, including four of those in the final hour. Kristal bailed his team out with 30 seconds remaining, as he stopped the GLIAC leader in goals, Fynn Mewes, from a header in tight.
“He’s steady, experience, and has been in these types of situations before. After conceding the goal, you need someone with ice in his veins, and I think he demonstrated that today. His handling was great in rough conditions… and he made smart decisions down the stretch to see this one through.”
NMU will now host Purdue Northwest on Sunday for senior day. A double-header from the NMU Soccer Field, the NMU women’s team plays Parkside for its senior day at 11 a.m. before the men’s team kick’s off against Purdue Northwest at 2 p.m.
How It Happened
The Wildcats opened the scoring late in the half off a screamer from Scialanga. From just inside the Laker half on the far side of the field, Scialanga delivered a beautifully struck ball that sailed over the outstretched hand of Carvajal into the upper limit of the net, giving NMU a lead 40 minutes into the match.
Two minutes later, a straight red card was shown to Dimitrijevic for a flying elbow to the head and neck area of Rosen, and the Lakers would play the final 48 minutes of play down a man.
The ‘Cats doubled its lead just four minutes into the half. A cross from Rosen was headed away by a Laker defender, but his clearance attempt found the head of Weimer, who reactively redirected the ball past Carvajal.
Down a man, Mewes played a perfect through ball to Schuster who timed his run perfectly to get behind the NMU defense. Schuster took a shot first-time, and goalkeeper Kristal had no chance.
