DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team starts Mid-American Conference play on Saturday, Oct. 8, when the Huskies travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., to meet Western Michigan. Game time against the Broncos is slated for 11 a.m. CT at the WMU Soccer Complex.

"Everybody is 0-0 right now (in the conference), everybody has a clean slate," said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. "Our conference is very good this year, our collective conference record is outstanding, so we know that every game is going to be difficult. Every game will be a battle and we are excited to play with that new level of intensity and pressure."

On Tuesday (Oct. 4), NIU (1-5-3) played to a 1-1 draw at home against UIC. Sophomore Max Voss (Huls, Germany/Staedtisches Gymnasium Herten) scored his second goal of the season to give NIU a first half lead before Max Todd evened the match for the Flames in the second half. Freshman goalkeeper Christoph Koninger (Achern, Germany/Gymnasium Achern) saw the first action of his collegiate career in the contest, he made 11 saves while playing the full 110 minutes.

NIU will be opening league play on the road for the second consecutive season. Last year, the Huskies earned a 1-0 victory at Bowling Green in the MAC Opener (Oct. 3, 2015) as Giovanni Garcia (Chicago, Ill./Elk Grove) scored the overtime winner in the 97th minute.

Western Michigan brings an 8-3-1 record into Saturday's matchup after dropping a 2-1 overtime decision at Michigan State on Wednesday (Oct. 5). Brandon Bye leads the Broncos with seven goals and 19 points on the season. Drew Shepherd has appeared in all 12 matches in goal, posting a 0.75 goals against average and a .763 save percentage.

"We know that Western Michigan is a very good team," said Luzzi. "They are a big team, an athletic team and they are well-coached. They buy in (to their system), so we know tomorrow is going to be a difficult game, but I was really encouraged by our performance against UIC in midweek and I think that has given our group a confidence to go attack this phase of the season."

NIU leads the all-time series against Western Michigan, 18-10-1. Last season, the Huskies fell, 1-0, to the Broncos in DeKalb (Oct. 31, 2015). Jay McIntosh scored in the 80th minute to lift Western Michigan to the victory.

Following Saturday's trip to Kalamazoo, NIU will return home to host a non-conference contest against Eastern Illinois on Tuesday, Oct. 11.