CHARLESTON, Ill. – Three goals in the opening 12 minutes helped the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team to a 5-1 victory at Eastern Illinois on Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 7) at Lakeside Field. Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) opened the scoring, Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) added a pair of goals while Pepe Martinez (Sant antoni de vilamajor, Spain/Western Michigan) and Camilo Estrada (Dallas, Texas/Lone Star) also tallied in the victory. 

"The guys looked sharp right from the warmup and right from the start they grabbed ahold of the game," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "Our play in the final third was quality today. Scoring the early goals really helped settle the game for us. We weren't great through the middle section of the game, but we managed to pull things back around, create more chances and (Camilo) Estrada put the icing on the cake with a fantastic strike."

It took NIU just over two minutes to go in front as Anthony Markanich gave the Huskies an early 1-0 lead. A NIU corner was half-cleared by Eastern Illinois, but only as far as Adrian Corona (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) who floated a ball to the back post where Anthony Markanich collected and fired a shot through Panther goalkeeper Chad Smith from a tight angle at close range to give the Huskies an early advantage. 

Martinez collected the ball on the right side and sent a cross to Enrique Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Virginia) at the near post. Eastern Illinois scrambled it away, but into the feet of Nick Markanich who smashed a shot from 12 yards to give NIU a 2-0 lead in the 11th minute.

Just 79 seconds later NIU added a third as Martinez, making his first start as a Huskie, netted his second goal in as many games to put the Huskies in front 3-0 just 12 minutes into the contest. 

Eastern Illinois came back with some offense of its own and hit the crossbar in the 15th minute as Jonas Castelhano rattled the woodwork. 

Smith made a double save in the 22nd minute, stopping a chance from Nick Markanich and the follow up from Zachariah Thomas (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary). 

The Huskies added a fourth goal in the 36th minute when NIU created a turnover and Martinez fed the ball to Nick Markanich inside the box. The NIU senior forward cut to his left and whistled a shot inside the back post to give the Huskies a fourth in the contest, his fourth goal in the last two games.  

Three minutes later, Eastern Illinois got a goal back as Prince Okonny created some space for himself on his left on the edge of the box and fired a shot into the upper corner of the goal to cut the Huskie lead to 4-1 at halftime. 

Smith made a good save less than two minutes into the second half as a ball was slipped into the run of Diego Maynez (El Paso, Texas/Lone Star) but his shot was stopped by the feet of the Panther goalkeeper. 

In the 86th minute, Estrada added a fifth for the Huskies, off an assist from Maynez. The goal was the first of the season, and second career, for the Dallas, Texas, native. 

"As we looked at the start of the second half, where we made quite a few changes, we were still in awe a bit of the quality of play we were putting out on the field," said Swan. "It is fantastic that we have such depth and competition for places, that is really important in college soccer because of the number of games we play in a relatively short amount of time."

Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) played the first 45 minutes in goal for NIU while Parker Smith (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) came on after halftime, neither goalkeeper registered a save in the contest. Smith made four saves in goal for Eastern Illinois. 

NIU will return home on Friday night, Sept. 10, when the Huskies host 18th-ranked Marquette. Kickoff against the Golden Eagles is scheduled for 7 p.m.