DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team welcomes Oakland to the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex on Thursday, Nov. 18 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. Kickoff between the Huskies and Golden Grizzlies is scheduled for 6 p.m. 

Tickets for Thursday's match are $10 for adults, $5 for kids 12 and under as well as students with a valid ID. The first 200 NIU students will be admitted free of charge. The contest will also be streamed free of charge on NIUHuskies.com. 

"I think it is going to be a really tough game," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "Oakland is coming in as double champions (of the Horizon League), just as we are, and I expect it to be a tough contest. I know that, should we win this game, we will have earned it.

"The NCAA balls arrived today, so we will get a chance to use those today (at practice) so you can feel the excitement building. We just have to manage the guys so that they are able to come out and perform the way we want them to without getting caught up too much in the occasion, while hopefully still enjoying it."

NIU brings a 14-2-2 record into the NCAA Tournament, the Huskies are the regular season and tournament champions of the Mid-American Conference. 

Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) leads the nation in goals with 16 after netting game winners in both the MAC Semifinals against Bowling Green and the MAC Final against Georgia State. Markanich also leads the country in points with 37 and is tied with Belmont's A.J. Chastonay with seven game-winning goals. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the MAC Tournament and was joined on the all-tournament team by Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais), Pepe Martinez (Sant antoni de vilamajor, Spain/Western Michigan) and Roque Viegas Jr. (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Syracuse).

Anthony Markanich is tied for second in the MAC with seven assists and ranks third in the league with 17 points while Martinez is tied for second in the conference with seven goals and is tied for fourth in the league with 16 points. 

As a team, NIU currently has the fourth-best offense in the country as the Huskies are averaging 2.50 goals per game. The Huskies also rank 16th nationally with a team goals against average of 0.79. 

This is the fourth all-time NCAA Tournament appearance for the Huskies, who also qualified for the tournament in 1973, 2006 and 2011. NIU hosted first round games in both 2006 and 2011, beating Loyola-Chicago, 1-0, in overtime in 2006 and Western Illinois, 3-0, in 2011. 

Oakland won the regular season and tournament in the Horizon League and comes to DeKalb with a 12-6-2 overall record. Noah Jensen leads the Golden Grizzlies in scoring with 26 points and was named MVP of the Horizon League Tournament. Mikey Ketteman has a team-high 10 goals for Oakland while Alessio Carbone and Finn Jurak have split time in goal for the Golden Grizzlies.

With tomorrow's game likely to be the final home game of the season, Swan hopes the Huskies can put in another positive performance for the home supporters. 

"Getting the chance to play in front of the home crowd, who have been so good this season, it really is a special thing," said Swan. "Should this be the last opportunity (at home), if we advance it will likely all be on the road, we have talked about our home crowd all year and they have been part of this experience and shared in the success, so we would love to give them one more thing to cheer about."

The winner of Thursday's first round contest will advance to face No. 5 seed Pittsburgh on Sunday, Nov. 21, at Pittsburgh.