Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan men's soccer team is preparing for two important conference games at home after a weekend in Minnesota. The Wildcats will host Purdue Northwest and Wisconsin Parkside, both of whom are strong competitors in the GLIAC.

Purdue Northwest, last year's GLIAC tournament champions, participated in the NCAA tournament last season and are currently third in the GLIAC standings. They have also received votes in this week's national poll. Wisconsin Parkside, the regular season champions from last year, are ranked 21st nationally and hold second place in the GLIAC.

The Wildcats will play against Purdue Northwest on Friday, September 27 at 3 p.m., followed by a match against Wisconsin Parkside on Sunday, September 29 at 2 p.m.

Alex Fatovic commented on his team's preparation: "They've worked very hard the last couple of days to review their own individual tape and mistakes… we're on to Tuesday, we're all ready to train, and move on to this Friday."

Northern Michigan has started the season with a record of 3-1-1, including three shutouts. Alessandro Scialanga leads the team with eight points from three goals and two assists. Other key players include Quint Van Roij, Finn Van Den Berg, Xhoel Lutaj, Tommaso Lami, and goalkeeper Nils Cedergreen.

Purdue Northwest's standout player is Jacob Battista, who was recently named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week. He leads his team with four goals and two assists. Christian Booth follows with three goals and one assist. Goalkeeper Tomas Rozman has played 420 minutes with four goals against and a save percentage of 0.765.

Wisconsin Parkside's top scorer is Chris Estrada with three goals and one assist. Jules Peycelon has contributed two goals and one assist. Their goalkeeper Daniyal Rana has conceded three goals with a save percentage of 0.727.

For updates during the games, follow @NMU_Mens_Soccer on X (formerly known as Twitter).