MADISON, Wis. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team was held to a 0-0 draw on Wednesday night (Sept. 28) at Wisconsin. Huskie goalkeeper Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) was credited with two saves in the contest. 

"We knew that it would be tough coming up here," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We knew that Wisconsin is well-organized and dangerous on set pieces. I was happy that we kept the shutout, that was important, and we had a couple of decent looks at goal. A little disappointed that we were held scoreless but after the Western Michigan game it was important for us to put in a good defensive display, and we did that."

Neither side created much in the way of chances until the 27th minute when Malcolm Ward (Youngs, Australia/Newington College) played a low cross to Miguel Maynez Jr. (El Paso, Texas/New Mexico) in the box and Maynez just missed the near post. 

Five minutes later, Adrian Corona (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) played Enrique Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Virginia) in behind the Wisconsin defense and Banuelos forced a save from Wisconsin goalkeeper Carter Abbott as the two teams went into the interval scoreless. 

Ten minutes after halftime, Wisconsin created a chance as Max Keenan fired a shot from just inside the corner of the box just wide of the far post. Two minutes later, Ward made a long run down the right side for the Huskies and got in the box before pulling a shot wide of the near post. 

Just before the hour mark, Wisconsin had an opportunity to open the scoring off a corner as the ball found its way to Jack Finnegan whose shot was well saved by Sanchez from close range. 

Wisconsin's height advantage continued to make the home side dangerous from corners throughout the second half and Sanchez was called into action twice in the 82nd minute, including an outstanding save at full stretch on a shot from Tim Bielic. 

The Huskies had a pair of chances to snatch a winner late on. Banuelos combined with Zachariah Thomas (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary) with seven minutes to play but the angle was just too tight for Thomas to threaten the Badgers goal. In the 89th minute, NIU had a corner and Parker Jeppson (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southwest) rose to win it near the top of the six-yard box, but Abbott made the save as the two teams settled for a draw. 

With the tie, NIU moves to 3-3-3 on the season while Wisconsin is now 3-4-1. 

NIU will return to conference play on Sunday, Oct. 2, when the Huskies travel to 25th-ranked Akron. Game time against the Zips is slated for 6 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN+.