DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team scored three goals on either side of halftime as the Huskies cruised to a 6-0 victory over St. Louis Community College in their exhibition opener on Sunday afternoon at the NIU Soccer Complex. 

Six different players found the back of the net and six Huskies also recorded assists in the victory. Junior Christian Molina (Katy, Texas/Mayde Creek), sophomore Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) and freshman Jaden Stevenson (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Sturgeon Bay) each had a goal and an assist.

"We focused a lot on getting the new guys integrated in what we want to do, so we have worked a lot on shape, especially defensive shape, because we felt we gave up too many goals last year" said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "That was good today, obviously getting the shutout, but we also didn't give away too many chances and were pretty compact and solid back there.

"To score some goals was nice as well, but we thought that we had some good attacking options, so that was what we were looking for, getting output from those guys, but the shutout and good defensive performance was what I was particularly happy about."

The Huskies opened the scoring in the 21st minute on a goal from junior Ethan Pitre (Minneapolis, Minn./Prairie Seeds Academy). After senior Max Voss (Herten, Germany/Staedtisches Gymnasium Herten) earned NIU a corner with a shot that was parried out of play by the St. Louis CC goalkeeper, Voss whipped in a cross that was met by the head of freshman Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais). The header rang off the crossbar and fell down to the feet of Pitre who tapped it home of the opening goal of the contest. 

NIU doubled its advantage nine minutes later as junior Irvin Dominguez (Frisco, Texas/Richland College) and Molina combined to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. Dominguez split the Archer defense with a through ball into the feet of Molina who took a touch around the St. Louis CC goalkeeper and tucked the ball into the open goal as NIU took a two-goal lead on the half-hour mark. 

Six minutes before the interval NIU added a third goal through junior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette). Molina and sophomore Sheriden Smith (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) combined down the wing and Smith sent a cross toward the top of the six-yard box. Maertins was knocked off his feet but still managed to flick a shot into the top corner of the net to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead in the 39th minute.

NIU scored a fourth in the 59th minute. A misplayed clearance by the St. Louis CC goalkeeper allowed Stevenson to play a pass to senior Noah Brodie (Scottsdale, Ariz./Carbondale Community) who finished into an open goal to give the Huskies a 4-0 lead. 

Welch converted a penalty kick in the 69th minute to add a fifth for the Huskies. Off a corner kick for NIU, St. Louis CC was whistled for a foul in the box and Welch calmly slotted the spot kick into the back of the net. 

Stevenson closed the scoring with NIU's sixth goal in the 81st minute. Senior Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) turned a defender in midfield and raced into the penalty area before being pulled down for a second NIU penalty. The penalty kick was saved by Odaine Reid in goal for St. Louis CC but Stevenson was quickest to react to the rebound, firing home a sixth goal for the Huskies. 

In the dying moments of the contest, the Archers earned a free kick on the edge of the Huskie box and NIU junior goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic (Schiller Park, Ill./West Virginia) made an excellent double dave to preserve the shutout. 

Dziedzic made three saves and junior Christoph Koninger (Achern, Germany/Gymnasium Achern) split the 90 minutes in goal for the Huskies. 

NIU will return to action on Tuesday, Aug. 14, when it hosts IUPUI in its second exhibition contest. Note the 4 p.m., start time to Tuesday's match, which has been changed from the originally announced 2 p.m. start.