MADISON, Wis. – Senior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) and sophomore Miguel Maynez Jr. (El Paso, Texas/New Mexico) were both on the scoresheet as the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team opened its preseason schedule with a 2-2 draw against Forward Madison FC of USL League One on Monday afternoon (Aug. 19) at Breese Stevens Field. 

 "There were a lot of really positive things today, so overall we are happy," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "Obviously this was a very good team we were playing against and for large portions we controlled how it was going, so it was good. Our possession was good, we created a lot of really good chances, we saw some things we need to work on, but it was a satisfactory first day out."

It took the Huskies just 10 minutes to open the scoring as a cross sophomore Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) found its way to Maertins in the box and the senior striker made no mistake, finishing from about 12 yards for what proved to be the only goal of the opening 45 minutes. 

After the intermission, Forward Madison leveled the contest in the 69th minute on a shot that appeared to be heading wide until it took a big deflection and wrong-footed NIU senior goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic (Schiller Park, Ill./West Virginia). 

NIU went back in front in the 76th minute as junior Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) sliced open the Forward Madison defense with a ball into the stride of Maynez who slotted it home to give the Huskies a 2-1 advantage. 

With the final kick of the ball, Forward Madison earned itself a share of the points, taking advantage of a Huskie turnover to level the contest at 2-2 just before the final whistle. 

NIU will return to the field on Friday, August 23, as the Huskies travel to Indianapolis, Ind., for their second contest when they face IUPUI. Game time against the Jaguars is slated for 1 p.m.