DEKALB, Ill. -- The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team will host the 2021 Mid-American Conference Tournament beginning on Thursday, Nov. 11. The first semifinal between No. 2 seed West Virginia and No. 3 seed Georgia State is scheduled for 3 p.m., while the top-seeded Huskies will face No. 4 seed Bowling Green at 6 p.m.
The winners of Thursday's two semifinals will square off in the conference championship game on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 12 p.m.
Tickets for Thursday's doubleheader are $10 while Sunday's final will be $5, available at the gate on gameday, all seating is general admission. Students from the participating schools will be admitted free of charge with a student ID. All three matches will also be live streamed free of charge on NIUHuskies.com.
"We are obviously very excited to be hosting the MAC Tournament," said NIU head coach
Ryan Swan. "The guys are healthy and ready to start playing. It's all just about final touches during training and video, just getting ready for Thursday's game."
NIU brings a 12-2-2 overall record into this weekend's tournament, including a 4-0-2 mark in league play. The Huskies moved down slightly in this week's United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll, coming in at 19th following their loss at Portland in the regular season finale. It marks a school-record fifth consecutive week that the Huskies have been in the ranking, breaking the previous mark of four set during the 2011 season.
Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) continues to pace the NIU attack with 14 goals, tied for third-most in the country. His 32 points are fourth best in the nation while his five game-winning goal are tied for fourth-best nationally.
NIU and Bowling Green played to a 1-1 draw earlier this season in DeKalb (Oct. 16). The result was typical of the close nature of the series between the Huskies and Falcons as seven of the last 12 meetings have gone to overtime, with just one of those last 12 matchups being decided by more than one goal.
"They are always tough games (with Bowling Green)," said Swan. "If you look at the number of games that have gone to overtime in the last few years, it is always a tightly contested matchup, and we are anticipating the same. We know they will be fired up for it, they play a very high-tempo, high pressing style, so we have to be ready for that and make sure that from the opening whistle we are ready to go."
The Falcons come to DeKalb with a 10-4-3 overall record, 2-2-2 in MAC play. Alberto Anaya and Jacob Erlandson each have 14 points to pace Bowling Green offensively while Logan Kowalczyk has played 14 of Bowling Green's 17 matches in goal, posting a 0.89 goals against average and a .667 save percentage.
"The last few home games we have had our crowd has been exceptional and really helped us to some big performances and big victories," said Swan. "This isn't something that comes around every year, a chance to host the four top teams in the conference, so I hope the crowd is there, one, to help us, and two, to enjoy some top-level college soccer."
For more information on the MAC Tournament, visit the championship central page on GetSomeMACtion.com.
