Northern Michigan’s men’s soccer team is going back to the NCAA Division II tournament, and this time it starts a round later than it did a year ago. The Wildcats drew the No. 5 seed in Super Region 3 and will play at No. 4 Findlay on Sunday, Nov. 15, at noon Eastern at DeHaven Field in Findlay, Ohio.
The pairing was announced during Monday’s selection show. NMU (10-6-2) earned an at-large bid after finishing fifth in the region’s NPI ranking, according to the university’s athletics department. It is the program’s second straight NCAA appearance and its first time playing in the second round.
How the bracket works
Each super region sends 10 teams. Seeds seven through 10 meet in first-round games, and the winners go on to play the top two seeds. The No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5 games are held at the higher seed’s field a few days after the first round, so both the Wildcats and the Oilers sat out the opening round.
Sunday’s game is single elimination. The winner advances to the third round against either top-seeded Lincoln University of Missouri or the winner of the first-round game between No. 8 Roosevelt and No. 9 Purdue Northwest, according to Findlay’s athletics department. That sets up a possible rematch with Purdue Northwest, which knocked NMU out of the GLIAC tournament semifinals 1-0 on a deflected goal.
A season of firsts
The Wildcats finished second in the GLIAC regular-season standings, the best finish the program has had since it started play in 2016. Four of the 10 teams in the super region field come from the GLIAC, and Saginaw Valley State is hosting first- and second-round games.
“At the end of the day, we’ve done enough over the course of the season to still be playing,” head coach Alex Fatovic said in his weekly media session, according to an NMU preview released Wednesday. Only 40 of the 202 Division II men’s soccer programs made the tournament.
NMU gets GLIAC Freshman of the Year Sergio Cano Castro back for Sunday. He sat out the conference semifinal while serving a suspension. The roster also has seven all-conference picks, including first-team selections Luca Rosen and Marcos Gallardo Rosano.
Last year’s NCAA trip was a scramble. The Wildcats won the GLIAC tournament on a Sunday and then had to travel by bus and plane to Claremore, Oklahoma, for a first-round game that Thursday. This time they have a full week of practice and a bus ride to northwest Ohio. The team stayed in Findlay earlier this season on a trip to play Tiffin.
“It’s about that full focus all week being in the right headspace,” Fatovic said. “We have the skill, we have the ability to perform at this level. It’s about the mentality.”
Scouting Findlay
Findlay (13-5-2) won the Great Midwest Athletic Conference tournament with a 3-0 win over Kentucky Wesleyan to take the league’s automatic bid. Sunday will be the first NCAA tournament game the Oilers have ever hosted. It is their third NCAA appearance and their second in three years. They reached the third round in 2024.
Senior defender Andre Sardinha, from Portugal, became the first Findlay player named G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year. Senior Carson Oberski made the all-conference first team after scoring eight goals, five of them game-winners, and fifth-year forward Tom Middleham was a second-team pick.
Fatovic expects a game played in the air. “It is going to be a similar GLIAC (kind of) game in terms of it being a direct game and trying to deal with a lot of long balls and headers,” he said. “We like that matchup because we train it.”
The two programs have met only twice, both during NMU’s first season in 2016. Northern won both, 2-0 on Sept. 25 for the program’s first shutout and 1-0 on Oct. 23.
How to follow
Tickets are sold through Findlay’s athletics site. The game will stream on NCAA.com, and NMU will post live stats at nmuwildcats.com. A win would put the Wildcats in the round of 16 the following weekend.
It is a busy week for Northern teams. The football team closes its season at home against Saginaw Valley State on Saturday, and the men’s basketball team plays two games in Wisconsin Dells, against Missouri-St. Louis on Friday and Winona State on Saturday.
