DEKALB, Ill. -- On a rainy Saturday afternoon, the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team fell to 13th-ranked Western Michigan, 5-0, at the NIU Soccer Complex. The Broncos scored twice in the first seven minutes as they remained perfect in conference play. 

 "That is a good Western Michigan team, but it was men against boys in the first half, we didn't compete," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "They just ran over the top of us, their play led into our weaknesses … There were a number of things that went wrong, the second half was an improvement but we still have some issues that we need to address."

Western Michigan (11-2-1, 2-0 MAC) opened the scoring in the fourth minute as Kosti Moni gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead. Giuseppe Vitale whipped a cross to the back post where Moni fired back across the face of goal, beating Huskie goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic as the Broncos took the early lead. 

Two minutes later, Huskie senior Luke Read (Ilford, England/Barking Abbey School) had a dangerous chance inside the six-yard box, but his header went wide. 

In the sixth minute, the Broncos scored again as Jay McIntosh took advantage of a miscue by the NIU (3-8-1, 0-1-1 MAC) defense and scored into an open goal to give Western Michigan a 2-0 advantage. 

The Broncos added a third goal in the 33rd minute through Brandon Bye. Tommy Clark's cross to the back post found Bye all alone and he headed past Dziedzic to give Western Michigan a 3-0 lead. The goal was Bye's eighth of the season. 

Six minutes before halftime, Western Michigan added a fourth goal as a clearing attempt by a Huskie defender found the back of the net to give the Broncos a 4-0 lead at the intermission. 

The nationally-ranked Broncos held a 9-3 lead in shots in the opening 45 minutes. 

In the second half, just eight minutes before the final whistle, Western Michigan added a fifth goal as Jake DeJulio collected a deflected shot and scored from 12 yards to give the Broncos a 5-0 lead and close the scoring. 

Dziedzic finished the match with five saves for the Huskies. 

NIU will be back home next Saturday, Oct. 21, when the Huskies host SIU Edwardsville in their final home game of the regular season. Kickoff against the Cougars is scheduled for 6 p.m.