This Week in Huskie Athletics – April 13, 2021

Consult NIUHuskies.com for the most up-to-date schedule information as ALL EVENTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE, which includes days, times and opponents.
 
DEKALB, Ill. –  A weekend set by the Huskie baseball team and home matches from the men's and women's tennis teams highlight the action This Week in Huskie Athletics.
 
Softball
Wednesday, April 14: Valparaiso, 3 p.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
Friday, April 16: at Central Michigan, 2 p.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, April 17: at Central Michigan, 12 p.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, April 17: at Central Michigan, 2 p.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
Sunday, April 18: at Central Michigan, 11 a.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
 
The NIU softball team concludes its five-game homestand when it welcomes Valparaiso to Mary M. Bell Field for its final nonconference game of the season. The Huskies will then travel to Mount Pleasant, Mich. for a weekend series at Central Michigan.
 
Claire Norred was very effective in the pitcher's circle for the Huskies last week, particularly against conference foe Western Michigan. The Huskie freshmen held the Broncos to two runs in 14 innings work of helping NIU to wins in her two starts. She allowed four hits, while striking out two in a 2-1 victory for the Huskies in game two of the series. Norred then earned her fifth win of the season as she held the Broncos to four hits, while allowing a run in an 8-1 Huskie win. She recorded four strikeouts and faced the minimum four of her seven innings helping NIU to a series split.
 
Carley Goetchius was the catalyst for the Huskie offense last week with a team-high six runs batted in, five hits and four runs scored in five starts. Of her five hits, three went for extra bases including a pair of home runs. After beginning the week with a two-RBI performance at DePaul, Goetschius hit a walk-off two-run homer in game two of Friday's doubleheader with Western Michigan. With a runner at second with one out and NIU down, 1-0, the Huskie junior deposited the Reily Galloway offering over the left field fence to give NIU the 2-1 win. In the first game of Sunday's double dip, Goetschius once again paced the NIU offense, going 2-for-3 on the day with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored in the Huskies' 8-1 win over the Broncos.
 
Women's Tennis
Friday, April 16 Toledo, 1 p.m. CT
Sunday, April 18 Eastern Michigan, 1 p.m. CT
 
The Huskie women's tennis team looks to build on the momentum of their 4-3 win at Miami when NIU opens a two-match homestand Friday against Toledo. The Huskies will then face Eastern Michigan Sunday afternoon.
 
Diana Lukyanova continues to impress in her first season of collegiate tennis, improving to 18-4 on the year following a three-set victory at Miami Sunday. With the match tied 3-3, the Huskie freshman, who dropped the first set, 4-6, rallied to take the final two sets, 6-4, 6-2, to take the match and clinch NIU's season sweep of the RedHawks. Lukyanova, who saw her 17-match winning streak come to an end Friday against Ball State, has been a staple for the Huskies at No. 3 singles.
 
Men's Tennis
Friday, April 16 Toledo, 1 p.m. CT
Sunday, April 18: Ball State, 1 p.m. CT
 
Following a pair of road wins at Niagara and Buffalo, the NIU men's tennis team hosts Toledo and Ball State in the final home weekend of the season. NIU comes into the weekend with a 19-2 overall record, its most wins since the 2011-12 season, and a 5-1 mark in league play. The Huskies are in second place in the MAC, just behind 6-0 Western Michigan. Oliver Valentinsson and Mikael Vollbach each have 17 singles wins to lead the Huskies, Valentinsson and Kristopher Ortega have a 15-4 doubles mark to pace NIU.
 
Toledo comes to DeKalb with a 6-6 overall record, and a 2-4 conference mark, while Ball State enters the weekend with a 15-3 record, 4-2 in league play.
 
Women's Track and Field
Friday, April 16: at Virginia Challenge
Friday, April 16: at Michael Johnson Invitational
Saturday, April 17: at Virginia Challenge
Saturday, April 17: at Michael Johnson Invitational
Saturday, April 17: at James Madison Invitational
 
A trio of events awaits the NIU women's track and field team this weekend as the Huskies will compete in both Texas and Virginia. Baylor's Michael Johnson Invitational, as well as the Virginia Challenge, are two-day events scheduled for Friday and Saturday (April 16-17), while the James Madison Invitational will take place on Saturday (April 17).
 
Last Friday at Eastern Illinois' Big Blue Classic, NIU won six events including Jazmyn Smith in the long jump with the MAC's fourth-best leap this year at 5.99 meters and Kennedy Crawford in the 400-meter hurdles with the fifth-fastest time in the MAC this season (1:01.20).
 
Baseball
Friday, April 16: Ohio, 2 p.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, April 17: Ohio, 12 p.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
Saturday, April 17: Ohio, 3 p.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
Sunday, April 18: Ohio, 12 p.m. CT – Watch | Live Stats
 
NIU Baseball returns to Ralph McKinzie Field this weekend to host the Ohio Bobcats for a four-game Mid-American Conference Series. The Huskies scored 20 runs in three games last weekend against Southern Illinois and Bellarmine, including a season-high 12 last Saturday. Kam Smith hit three home runs on the weekend, including two last Friday against Bellarmine. The redshirt-junior brings a 13-game hitting streak into this weekend's series against Ohio. Smith leads NIU with a .354 batting average, eight home runs, and 19 RBI. The Huskies swept Ohio in a three-game series in DeKalb in 2019, as well as defeated the Bobcats in an elimination game at the 2019 MAC Tournament.
 
Men's Soccer
Sunday, April 18: at Bowling Green, 11 a.m. – Watch | Live Stats
 
The final game of the regular season sends the NIU men's soccer team to Bowling Green on Sunday. The Huskies head to Northwest Ohio after suffering a pair of setbacks last week against SIU Edwardsville and West Virginia, dropping NIU to 5-7-1 overall, 4-5 in the MAC. Nick Markanich scored a pair of goals last week and is currently tied for sixth nationally with nine goals while his 20 points is tied for eighth in the country, both marks lead the MAC.
 
Bowling Green, who hosts West Virginia on Wednesday, enters the week with a 6-4 overall record, 4-2 in conference play.
 
Men's Golf
Saturday, April 17: Hawkeye Invitational, All Day – Live Scoring
Sunday, April 18: Hawkeye Invitational, All Day – Live Scoring
 
NIU Men's Golf is in action this weekend at the Hawkeye Invitational, hosted by Iowa at Finkbine Golf Course. The Huskies finished 16th at the Aggie Invitational last weekend in a field that included seven of the top 40 teams in the country and 15 of the top 100 amateur golfers in the world. Jordan Less finished fourth individually with a 54-hole score of one-under par 215. He placed higher than Oklahoma's Garret Reband and Texas Tech's Ludvig Aberg, who are the fourth and fifth-ranked amateurs respectively in the latest World Golf Amateur Rankings. Junior Tommy Dunsire has had success at Finkbine Golf Course, winning the Finkbine Amateur Invitational last June with a 36-hole score at four-under par.
 
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