DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team played its second exhibition game of the fall on Saturday night (Aug. 19) against Graceland at the NIU Soccer Complex. The contest brought a close to the preseason as the Huskies look ahead to the regular season starting this coming week. 

"Happy to get a win and a shutout," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "I thought we scored three good goals. There were still moments in the game, especially in the first half, where we were careless in possession of the ball. All credit to our guys, as the game went on our fitness started to show. There were bigger spaces opening up and as those spaces opened up our build up was better. The only disappointing part was we coughed the ball up a little too easily a couple times in the first half."

Saturday's home exhibition came exactly a week after the Huskies opened the preseason with a trip to Creighton and the week between preseason games provided a chance for NIU to improve and grow.

"The guys were really positive this week, the mentality was really positive in training," said Swan. "We got to see some of the stuff (tonight) that we have been working on. There is certainly room to improve before Western (Illinois) come to town, but there were certainly positive steps taken since last week."

Just as they did against Creighton, NIU used Saturday night's contest to look at a number of players, including a few that did not see action a week ago.

"It was really important (to see a lot of guys play)," said Swan. "We have a good core of guys returning and I thought our returners were really good today. As we managed to layer some of the other guys in, I didn't think the level dropped. With some of the younger guys, the decision making has to be a little bit better, but I was happy. They showed that they can play at this level and at this speed (of play)."

NIU will now turn its focus toward the regular season, but Swan believes that the team began to have a regular season mindset and focus this past week on the practice field. 

"The mentality this week was really good, so I think we are already into a season mentality," said Swan. "Obviously, there was some work to be done after the Creighton game, we have done that, but the focus was on getting a result against Graceland and I think the guys are ready. We are in a good space mentally for the start of the season."

The Huskies will open the 2023 regular season with back-to-back home games, beginning on Thursday, Aug. 24, as NIU welcomes Western Illinois to DeKalb for a 4 p.m. kickoff. The Huskies will then face Memphis on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 2:30 p.m.