INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Goals from seniors Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) and Carlos Valdez (Houston, Texas/Richland College) helped the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team to a 3-1 win in its lone exhibition contest on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30) as the Huskies returned to action for the first time since November 2019. 

"I was really happy with the game, it was a tough contest against a really strong Butler program," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We came out and we were very good early in the game, creating chances and looking solid defensively. We were able to get a lot of guys minutes today and we were really happy with a lot of players. We have a lot of questions that we have to answer before next week's game because we had a lot of guys perform so well."

The contest was broken up into three periods and it was the hosts who broke the deadlock midway through the second period to take a 1-0 lead.

Early in the third period, Welch pulled the Huskies level and just a couple minutes later the senior midfielder played a dangerous ball through the box in front of the Bulldogs goal and it was turned in by a Butler defender, giving NIU a 2-1 lead. With about 10 minutes to play in the final period, Valdez doubled the Huskie advantage to give NIU the 3-1 victory. 

"We were really excited to get out on the field again," Swan said of NIU's first match in over 14 months. "I was a little concerned that it would be hectic because it has been so long since our last game, but I thought we were really composed. It doesn't feel like there has been such a long break, the guys rolled right back into it and were very competitive. It was great to be back and we are excited about where we stand right now." 

Swan credited his team's ability to perform at a high level to the work they put in during fall practices. 

"I think that showed, there were a lot of things that we worked on in the fall that came pretty quickly today," Swan said. "Even with many new faces on the field, they transitioned into the level of the competition very well."

NIU will be in action again next Sunday, February 7, when the Huskies open the regular season at Marquette.