This story and photo are courtesy of NMU Sports Information. Click the AUDIO button to hear RRN's Casey Ford interview Wildcat Coach Alex Fatovic.
MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The NMU men's soccer team has been selected to participate in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, and will face the Findlay Oilers in the second round. The Wildcats ended the season as the #5 seed in the region, and will travel to Findlay, Ohio, to face the #4 seed Oilers. The game will be played Sunday Nov. 15 at 1:00 pm at DeHaven Field on the campus of Findlay.
The Wildcats (10-6-2) finished fifth in Super Region 3 in NPI ranking and earned an at-large bid to the big dance, making the NCAA Tournament for back-to-back seasons after winning thr GLIAC Tournament and earning an auto bid a season ago.
The Oilers (13-5-2) finished fourth in te region, and earned an auto bid after defeating Kentucky Wesleyan 3-0 and winning the GMAC Postseason Tournament. The Oilers now make the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons, as they earned a first round bye and made it to the third round in 2024.
The Wildcats and Oilers have met twice, both coming as GLIAC conference matches in the inaugural 2016 season, with NMU holding a 2-0-0 record. The program's first shutout came in a 2-0 win over the Oilers on September 25, 2016, and the 'Cats downed the Oilers 1-0 in the final host contest of the campaign on October 23, 2016
With a 10 team tournament bracket, teams 7, 8, 9, and 10 will play each other in the first round. The winner of those games will play the #1 and #2 seeds, who will act as hosts for those matches and play the respective winner in the second round. The #4 vs #5 match and #3 vs #6 match will be held at the highest seeded school after the first round games are played a few days earlier.
