Sept. 10, 2010
Stats
DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois men's soccer team led visiting Oregon State for more than 50 minutes during the Huskies' opener of the NIU adidas/Magnuson Inn Invitational Friday, but gave up two second half goals in a three-minute span, eventually dropping a hard-fought 2-1 decision at the NIU Soccer & Track and Field Complex.
Junior midfielder Johnny Tyma gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead just shy of the 15th minute (14:57), capitalizing on a cross from senior Kyle Knotek, and NIU (0-1-2) held that advantage until the 66th minute, when the Beavers' Roberto Farfan scored on an unassisted strike. Three minutes later (69:03), OSU's (3-0-0) Brian Ramsey headed Farfan's feed into the top right corner of the goal, handing the Beavers the game-winning tally.
The Huskies decisively out-shot the Beavers (11-8), and tallied nine corner kicks, to Oregon State's three. The Beavers were whistled for 13 fouls, four more than NIU, but the Huskies were tagged with four yellow cards in the game.
"I thought we played a pretty good soccer game, and for a good majority of the time, we played like the better team today," said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. "But the only thing that matters at the end of the day is the score, and we came up short.
"It's disappointing, because you want to win every game, and you want to win all of your home games. We've got some work to do; our work rate is not hard enough right now, and our mental toughness and will is not where it needs to be. Those are unique characteristics of our team, and they need to get better for us to accomplish our goals."
Physical play dominated the game, as a combined six yellow cards were given out. The Huskies also had several scoring chances down the stretch - Finn Jor and Francis Otira each forced Oregon State goalkeeper Steve Spangler into tough saves in the final two minutes. NIU had two corner kicks in the final 90 seconds of the contest.
The game marked a homecoming for Beavers' head coach Steve Simmons, who led the Huskies to the 2006 Mid-American Conference championship. Luzzi served as Simmons' top assistant coach for three seasons before taking over the head coaching duties upon Simmons accepting the Oregon State post prior to last season. NIU shut out the Beavers (2-0) in Corvallis, Ore., last season.
NIU will wrap up competition in the NIU adidas Magnuson Inn Invitational Sunday, when the Huskies take on Cleveland State beginning at 1:30 p.m.
