UP Gazette

The Northern Michigan University men's soccer team recorded its first win of the 2025 season with a 2-1 victory over Lawrence Tech Blue Devils on Saturday in Marquette. The Wildcats now hold a 1-0-1 record after the opening weekend.

Teun Van Gansewinkel scored his first goal of the season, giving NMU a lead at halftime. Lawrence Tech equalized early in the second half through Pablo Calvo Perez, but Davian Gumbs secured the win for NMU with a header in the 70th minute.

"Good team win today," said head coach Alex Fatovic in his post-match press conference. "We had a great first half, we worked the ball really well, but then a really poor start to the second half got us into trouble. For the guys to dig out this win like we did, it's a great learning experience and a really good sign."

Luca Rosen and Alessandro Scialanga assisted on Van Gansewinkel's goal, while James Carr set up Gumbs' game-winner. Goalkeeper Asaf Kristal made three saves for his first win with NMU. Carr, Scialanga, and Owen Rutledge played all ninety minutes.

NMU took 16 shots compared to nine by Lawrence Tech and held an 8-5 advantage in corner kicks. The Wildcats also controlled possession slightly more than their opponents and spent more time attacking when they had the ball.

Discipline was another factor; Lawrence Tech received four yellow cards and committed 14 fouls compared to two yellow cards and ten fouls for NMU.

"Really proud of our full team effort today. We had a lot of [underclassmen] come in and make big impacts [for us], ten minutes at a time, fifteen minutes at a time, and those are really big minutes for us," Fatovic added. He noted that four of seven substitutions were underclassmen, including Andrea Mercanti (43 minutes) and Tyler Kowalczyk (37). Triston Nelson and Max Rebori made their season debuts as substitutes.

Weather conditions included temperatures in the low 50s with wind gusts but no rain during Saturday's match.

Looking ahead, NMU will travel to Illinois to face Lewis on September 11 before heading to Ohio for a match against Lake Erie on September 14.

"We've got the toughest road trip possible this week, and we're going to have to play better to get results on the road, but it's all there for us… undefeated so far, and we're going to try and keep that rolling."