DEKALB, Ill. – Seven regular season home matches and three 2017 NCAA Tournament teams highlight the 2018 Northern Illinois University men's soccer schedule released on Tuesday. 

NIU's three-match exhibition slate begins with a pair of home games as the Huskies host St. Louis Community College (Sunday, Aug. 12) and IUPUI (Tuesday, Aug. 14). The Huskies will conclude their exhibition schedule with a trip to Omaha, Neb., to visit Creighton on Saturday, Aug. 18.

The first four matches of the regular season will send the Huskies on the road, beginning with a trip to Cincinnati to officially open the 2018 campaign on Friday, Aug. 24, followed by a visit to 2017 Horizon League regular season champion Green Bay on Monday, Aug. 27. 

A trip to the Lone Star State will follow as NIU meets Houston Baptist (Friday, Aug. 31) and Texas Rio Grande Valley (Sunday, Sept. 2), with both matches scheduled to be played at UTRGV in Edinburg, Texas. 

The first home match of the regular season will begin a three-match homestand for the Huskies as Purdue Fort Wayne comes to DeKalb on Friday, Sept. 7. The Huskies will then host Western Illinois on Wednesday, Sept. 12 and 2017 Horizon League Tournament champion UIC on Tuesday, Sept. 18. 

Another four-game road trip will follow the UIC contest, starting with a visit to Charleston, Ill., to meet Eastern Illinois on Friday, Sept. 21. The Huskies will then travel to Milwaukee (Tuesday, Sept. 25) for the annual LeWang Trophy match and Portland (Friday, Sept. 28) before opening Mid-American Conference play at SIU Edwardsville on Saturday, Oct. 6. 

NIU will welcome Bowling Green to DeKalb on Saturday, Oct. 13, for their first home conference match. The Huskies will then host Drake on Tuesday, Oct. 16 and Akron, who reached the 2017 College Cup, on Saturday, Oct. 20.

The Huskies will make the short trip to Loyola-Chicago on Tuesday, Oct. 23 to close the non-conference portion of their schedule. NIU then visits Western Michigan, who reached the third round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, on Saturday, Oct. 27 and hosts West Virginia on Saturday, Nov. 3 to close the regular season. 

All six teams will participate in this season's MAC Tournament, with the first round slated for Tuesday, Nov. 6, with the semifinals and final to follow on Nov. 9-11.