DEKALB, Ill. – SIU Edwardsville scored a pair of goals in the first eight minutes to claim a 2-1 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team on a windy Saturday afternoon (Oct. 12) at the NIU Soccer Complex. Senior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) pulled a goal back for the Huskies in the 12th minute but NIU was unable to find a second to level the contest. 

"This is a game that we should have won," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We got off to a really poor start, the first 15-20 minutes, obviously we were playing into the wind. Our decision-making on the ball was bad, the two goals we gave up were very disappointing. From 2-0 down it is going to be difficult fighting your way back, I think the game was lost in those opening minutes. We did have chances in the second half, we just failed to capitalize."

Playing with the advantage of the wind in the opening 45 minutes, SIU Edwardsville was on the front-foot early and took advantage in the fourth minute on a goal from Steven Bibas. A low cross came in and took a deflection before falling to Jorge Gonzalez who was closed down by NIU redshirt freshman goalkeeper Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy). Gonzalez squared the ball to Bibas as Sanchez was coming out and Bibas slotted it into the net to give the Cougars an early 1-0 lead. 

It took SIUE (7-3-1, 1-0-0 MAC) just four minutes to double its advantage as Gonzalez rose above the crowd to power home a header off a corner kick from Joergen Pettersen in the eighth minute, giving the Cougars a 2-0 advantage. 

NIU (5-7-1, 0-1-0 MAC) halved the SIUE lead in the 12th minute as Maertins scored his fourth goal of the season. Junior Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) clipped a cross from the right wing up toward the back post where Maertins snuck a header between SIU Edwardsville goalkeeper Lluis Martorell and the post to cut the Cougar lead to 2-1. 

After the early flurry, neither team scored in the final 30-plus minutes of the opening half as SIUE took a one-goal lead into the interval. 

With the wind in the second half, NIU had most of the chances after the intermission. In the 56th minute, sophomore Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) had a great chance to even the match but could not direct his shot on frame. 

Just past the hour mark, NIU had an opportunity from an indirect free kick inside the SIUE box. Welch fired the shot from about 15 yards but couldn't sneak it through a swarm of Cougars as it was blocked out for a corner kick.  

Markanich had another good look in the 68th minute when a terrific diagonal ball from sophomore Pierce Ugarte (Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) found Markanich in the box, only to see his shot stopped by Noah Heim who had come in for SIUE in goal due to an injury. 

Heim was called upon again just two minutes later as he got a hand to a header from Maertins, just tipping it over the bar, to help SIUE hang on for the 2-1 victory. 

Martorell made four saves in 62 minutes for the Cougars before Heim made a pair of stops in relief; Sanchez made three saves in the contest for the Huskies. 

NIU will return to action next Friday, October 18, as the Huskies head to Morgantown, W. Va. Kickoff against the Mountaineers is slated for 6 p.m. CT.