Great Lakes Wire

MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Northern Michigan University men's soccer team will open its 2024 regular season with two non-conference road matches. The team will first face the Northwood University Timberwolves, followed by a match against the Hawks of Quincy University.

The Wildcats and Timberwolves will meet in the season opener on Thursday, September 5, at 1 p.m., followed by a clash with the Hawks on Sunday, September 8, also at 1 p.m.

NMU enters this opening weekend after playing three preseason exhibition matches against Madonna University from Livonia (MI), the University of Wisconsin-Superior in Superior (WI), and St. Scholastica College from Duluth (MN). No official scores were recorded in those matches.

Follow @NMU_Mens_Soccer and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly known as Twitter) for updates leading up to and during the games.

Thursday, September 5 - vs. Northwood University at 1:00 PM

Watch | Live Stats

Sunday, September 8 - vs. Quincy University at 1:00 PM

Watch | Live Stats

"Our path to where we are today started at the end of last season," said head coach Alex Fatovic. "We knew we needed to be tougher, be more disciplined, and that's the work we did in the offseason, led by our captain Tommaso Lami and our returners."

The Wildcats return several key players for the 2024 roster, including Jaziel Sainz de Vilmorin, GLIAC's 2023 Freshman of the Year; Jan Hoffman, a Second Team GLIAC Selection in 2023; and Tommaso Lami, GLIAC's Freshman of the Year in 2022.

This year's team features many new faces with ten freshmen and six transfers joining. The coaching staff also welcomed new additions for the 2024 season. Chance Vang joins head coach Alex Fatovic as an assistant coach while former players Keegan Schmidt and Bryce Beckley have also joined the staff.

Last season, NMU ended with a record of 2-10-4 overall and a conference record of 1-6-3.

Northwood is part of G-MAC. This year, they were selected to finish eighth out of eleven in the G-MAC Preseason Coaches Poll. Northwood finished with a record of 6-8-4 in the previous season. Head coach Stevie Shard returns for his seventh season with an overall record of 40-50-11 over six years. NMU dropped a 4-2 decision in their meeting last year.

Quincy will open its season against Parkside University before facing NMU. The Hawks ended their previous season with a record of 10-5-2 overall. Last year’s match between Quincy and NMU resulted in a narrow victory for NMU with a PK goal from Tommaso Lami.

###