MACOMB, Ill. – The NIU men’s soccer team controlled play for 90 minutes but had to settle for a 1-1 draw on Saturday in its final preseason game at Western Illinois. Sophomore Luke Read (Ilford, England/Barking Abbey School) scored in the 70th minute to cancel out a 58th minute Western Illinois goal as the Huskies close their exhibition slate unbeaten.

“It’s still the preseason,” said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. “We saw a couple of guys fatiguing a little early, we saw a couple of mistakes in areas that we would expect not to see next Friday. But, especially for preseason, I was really pleased with the quality of the chances we created. We didn’t finish them, but our guys did pretty well on the ball today and created a lot of chances. I’m disappointed we didn’t get one or two more goals out of it, but on the whole I was pleased.”

Read nearly scored inside the opening five minutes as he got his head on the end of a corner but directed his header high of goal from inside the six-yard box.

Just before the half-hour mark NIU created another chance as freshman Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) worked his way in on goal and forced a good save from Western Illinois goalkeeper Sam Copp. Moments later it looked as though the Huskies had earned a penalty kick as junior Richard Hall (Billericay, England/The Billericay School) went down in the box, but the referee waved play on.

Three minutes before the halftime break the Huskies created another opportunity as freshman Michael Banas (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) found himself alone in front of the net but Copp made himself big and came up with another save.

The contest went to the half scoreless with the Huskies not conceding a shot in the opening 45 minutes.

In the 54th minute, NIU came close again as, off a corner kick, the ball caromed off a body in front and off of the post. On the follow-up sophomore Jerome Roche (Salon-De-Provence, France/Gardner-Webb) fired wide as the Huskies continued to push for the opening goal.

Four minutes later, Western Illinois scored the opening goal with its first shot of the contest. Diego Lopez took advantage of a turnover and found the back of the net to give Western Illinois a 1-0 lead.

NIU responded to the goal by going right back on the attack as Roche forced another save from Copp in the 63rd minute.

Five minutes later Western Illinois had its only other shot of the contest as Drew Whalen’s header went high of NIU senior goalkeeper Andrew Glaeser (Walla Walla, Wash./Walla Walla/Oregon State).

The Huskies finally pulled level in the 70th minute as Read got his foot to a ball in heavy traffic at the back post on a corner and found a way to score through the traffic to even the contest, 1-1.

Back on level terms, NIU continued to push the pace of the game and nearly got a late winner as freshman Nixon Urrutia (Houston, Texas/Dobie) flashed a header off the post in the 89th minute.

NIU will open the 2015 regular season next Friday night, Aug. 28, as the Huskies take on Green Bay at 7 p.m., at the NIU Soccer Complex.