SUPERIOR, Wis. – The University of Northwestern Men's Soccer season came to a close on Wednesday night. They entered the UMAC Tournament as the fourth seed and were tasked with trying to take down the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets, who are undefeated in conference play this year. The Superior Men's team has been UMAC Regular season champions and UMAC Tournament Champions for the last six years running. The Eagles battled, but were unable to recover from an early deficit.
The first half resulted in four goals for the Yellowjackets, with the first goal coming in the 4
th minute. Northwestern saw multiple good chances in the first 45 to level the score, but were unable to convert their shots to goals.
After the break, the Eagles finally found an answer on a chip into the goal from
Jared Mojardin (Denver, Colo./Northeast Early College). He received the pass from senior
Joey McMillin (Hugo, Minn./Centennial), and got to the ball just in time to pop the shot over the sliding keeper and place it on target to move the score to 1-4.
Northwestern held Superior's offensive powerhouse scoreless for 37 minutes in the second half, but conceded the final goal with 8 minutes remaining. The semifinal ended with a score of 1-5, and the Eagles finished their season 8-7-4.
Mojardin led the Eagles with a goal on 3 shots with 2 on target. McMillin tallied an assist along with a shot on target.
Simeon Friesen (Mounds View, Minn./Homeschool) also added 2 shot attempts, and
Michael Machuca (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island) notched 3 saves in his final match for Northwestern. This concludes the 2024 season for the Northwestern Men's Soccer. They are saying good-bye to their 12 seniors who have made a great impact on the program.
