DEKALB, Ill. – Coming off of back-to-back home wins, the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team will conclude its current three-game homestand on Tuesday night, Sept. 18, when the Huskies host UIC. Kickoff against the Flames is scheduled for 7 p.m. 

"It was nice to have this little break, get everyone healthy again and refine some of the things, tactically, that we wanted to work on," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "At the same time, it is nice to get back on the field. Whenever you go too long you start to miss the competition, so it will be nice to get back on the field tomorrow."

Last time out, the Huskies registered a 1-0 victory over Western Illinois as freshman Diego Sanz (Mompia, Spain/La Marina) scored his first collegiate goal in the 13th minute to give NIU the victory. 

Sophomore Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) is leading the Huskies in scoring with seven points (two goals, three assists). Freshman Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) and senior Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) each have six points; Markanich with three goals and Rodriguez with one goal and four assists. 

Welch is tied for fifth in the MAC in scoring while Markanich and Rodriguez are tied for eighth. 

Junior Konrad Dziedzic (Schiller Park, Ill./West Virginia) has a 0.99 goals against average, which ranks third in the MAC, and has posted three shutouts this season, second-best in the conference. 

UIC comes to DeKalb with a 6-1 record after defeating IUPUI, 4-0, this past Saturday. The Flames have won four-straight, recording shutouts in three of the four matches, dating back to a 1-0 victory over Western Michigan on Sept. 3. 

Last season, the Flames claimed a 3-1 victory over the Huskies in Chicago (Sept. 26, 2017). Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) scored the lone goal for the Huskies in the contest. UIC went on to finish the 2017 season with an 11-6-3 record and won the Horizon League Tournament. 

"Most of the guys know each other, either from playing collegiately or many of the freshmen on both teams are Chicagoland guys, so there is an added incentive in that it is a local rivalry," Swan said of playing UIC. "They are a good team, they had a good season last year and they are off to a good start this year. I know our guys are looking forward to this one, I think it will be a good game of soccer and hopefully we can execute our game plan and come away with a positive result."

Following Tuesday's contest, the Huskies will be on the road for their next four games, beginning on Friday, Sept. 21 when they travel to Charleston, Ill., to meet Eastern Illinois.