DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team will play the middle game of its current three-game homestand on Wednesday night, Sept. 12, as the Huskies welcome Western Illinois to the NIU Soccer Complex. Game time against the Leathernecks is scheduled for 7 p.m.

"The guys played well on Friday and created a lot of chances, so we are looking to continue that, continue to get into the final third and continue to create chances," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "But we conceded five goals in the last two games, so a big part of the focus for the last couple of days has been defensive organization and responsibilities. We would like to make sure that we are not giving up the kind of chances we did in the last couple of games."

Last time out, the Huskies recorded a 4-2 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne (Sept. 7) to earn their third win of the season, equaling last season's win total. Junior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette), sophomore Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) and freshmen Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) and Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) were all on the scoresheet in the win over the Mastodons. 

Nick Markanich currently leads the Huskies with three goals, tied for second-most in the Mid-American Conference, and six points. Welch and senior Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) also have six points and Rodriguez is tied for the conference lead with four assists. 

Junior goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic (Schiller Park, Ill./West Virginia) has played four of five games in goal for the Huskies and has a 1.24 goals against average and two shutouts. 

"We talked to the guys about moving into the second phase of the season," said Swan. "The first four or five games were about figuring our team out, especially with such a young team. Now as we move into the Western (Illinois) game tomorrow and UIC next week it is about refining our system and cleaning things up a little bit. We will focus a little more on our style of play and formation in training so hopefully we will see big improvements as we play just once a week."

Western Illinois will come to DeKalb with a 1-3-1 record as the Leathernecks earned a 1-0 victory over Dayton in their last match on Saturday (Sept. 8). Daniel Kadima scored his first goal of the season to lift the Leathernecks past the Flyers, Paul Kirdorf leads Western Illinois with two goals on the season. In goal, Tim Trilk has started all five matches, posting a 2.13 goals against average and a .643 save percentage. 

Wednesday's meeting will be the first regular season contest between the Huskies and Leathernecks since 2011 when NIU earned a 3-0 victory over Western Illinois in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.  

Following Wednesday's match, NIU will finish its current homestand next Tuesday, Sept. 18, as it hosts UIC.