OMAHA, Neb. -- The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team met Creighton on Saturday evening (Aug. 12) at Morrison Stadium in its first exhibition contest of the season. 

"I thought there were a few guys that performed well, and we can see that some of our new guys are going to grow into good roles, but we looked timid out there," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "It looked like it was our first game and it looked like Creighton was in midseason form, but we both just started Tuesday. There were promising moments, we have guys that we know can grow into things, but it is a wake-up call to guys that at this level you get punished for your mistakes."

Six newcomers made their unofficial NIU debuts against the Bluejays, who enter this season ranked eighth in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll. 

"There are a lot of lessons we can take out of tonight," said Swan. "It needs to be better from us, but that is a team that went to the Final Four last year (in Creighton) and their work rate, their belief and their confidence on the ball was at a different level from us. I think we have the players to do it, but it wasn't a good showing from us, and we need to make things right pretty quickly."

Saturday's contest came after just four days of training and the Huskies will have a full week before their next preseason game. 

"We will watch the game back and there are already things in my head that we need to work on, but once the guys get to watch the game, they will be able to see the things we need to work on," said Swan. "I think cleaning up a few simple things should allow us to take a giant step forward."

NIU will have one more exhibition contest as the Huskies host Graceland on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 7 p.m. The regular season opener will take place on Thursday, Aug. 24, when NIU hosts Western Illinois.