DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team returns home this weekend as it hosts the NIU adidas Invitational. The Huskies will welcome Stetson to DeKalb on Friday night, Sept. 8, at 7:30 p.m., before hosting Texas Rio Grande Valley on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 10, at 1:30 p.m.
Friday night is International and Diversity night and the first 100 students will receive a free hot dog, chips and drink. At halftime there will be a performance by the NIU Tumbao dance group and it is also NIU Soccer Camper Reunion/NIFC Night.
Sunday's match will be Youth Team Day and AYSO Day, featuring a halftime scrimmage of attending youth programs.
NIU (1-2) returns home after falling twice last weekend at the ProRehab Aces Soccer Classic. Freshman
Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) and sophomore
Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Georg-Buechner Gym) each scored their first career goal at NIU during the tournament; Maertins and sophomore
Ethan Pitre (Minneapolis, Minn./Prairie Seeds Academy) were named to the all-tournament team.
The Hatters of Stetson come to DeKalb with a 1-2 overall record and are coming off a 3-0 victory over Bucknell last Sunday (Sept. 3). Deniz Dogan scored a pair of goals and added an assist for Stetson in their victory over Bucknell to lead the Hatters with five points.
Stetson is making its second trip to the NIU adidas Invitational in the last three season, the Huskies defeated the Hatters, 1-0, on a goal from
Luke Read (Ilford, England/Barking Abbey School).
Texas Rio Grande Valley enters the weekend with a 0-1-1 mark and will face Loyola-Chicago on Friday before meeting the Huskies. UTRGV saw its opening weekend canceled due to Hurricane Harvey, the Vaqueros opened the season last weekend with a draw against St. Bonaventure before falling, 1-0, to nationally-ranked Omaha.
Sunday's match will be the first all-time meeting between NIU and UTRGV.
Next weekend, NIU will travel to Orem, Utah, where the Huskies will face 17th-ranked Omaha (Sept. 15) and Sacramento State (Sept. 17).
