EVANSTON, Ill. -- Rom Brown scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner with 14 seconds left, as the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team fell to Northwestern, 2-1, on Friday night (Sept. 8) at Martin Stadium. Camilo Estrada (Dallas, Texas/Lone Star) scored to level the game in the first half while Jakub Rojek (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben) made five saves in goal for the Huskies. 

"Obviously, it's devastating to lose in the way that we did, with 14 seconds left," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "I thought we dealt with (Northwestern's) threat pretty well all night. There were a lot of balls in behind and set pieces, but we defended well, just a couple of errors at the end when we had to see the game out and we didn't quite manage to do that."

In the 12th minute, it appeared that the Huskies had won a penalty as Eddie Knight (Frisco, Texas/Lone Star) appeared to be chopped down inside the penalty area, but the referee waved play on.  

Northwestern opened the scoring just before the quarter-hour mark off a corner. Brown rose the highest at the back post off a corner, nodding his effort from close range past NIU goalkeeper Rojek to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute. 

Estrada pulled the goal back just four minutes later for NIU. Northwestern goalkeeper Rafael Ponce De Leon got a hand to Taisei Arima's (Machida, Japan/Seiryo) corner, but he was unable to push it out of danger as it fell right in front of Estrada whose overhead kick rainbowed into the back of the net to level the match at one. 

NIU it the woodwork in the 35th minute as Knight's cross deep to the back post found the head of Sam Divis (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville). From a tight angle, the freshman flicked a header back off the post as the match remained tied heading into halftime. 

Northwestern had the first chance after the interval as Justin Weiss rattled a shot off the cross bar in the 52nd minute. Less than a minute later, NIU had an opportunity as Zachariah Thomas' (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary) curling effort went just wide from the corner of the box. 

In the 84th minute, a Northwestern opportunity hit the woodwork as Weiss had the second touch for the Wildcats off a corner, flicking the ball on toward goal and off the bar as the contest remained even. Two minutes later, Arima found himself with space down the right side and was able to dribble his way into the box before firing a low shot that was held by Ponce De Leon. 

Rojek denied Brown a winning goal in the 88th minute as the Wildcat midfielder's shot from near the top of the box was palmed away by the diving Huskie goalkeeper at full stretch. 

In the final minute, Brown did find the winner as a cross from the right side was flicked on toward Brown and his volley from the top of the six-yard box found the net to give Northwestern the victory. 

NIU will be back in action on Tuesday night, Sept. 12, when the Huskies travel to Milwaukee for their annual Lewang Cup matchup against the Panthers. Kickoff in Milwaukee is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be available on ESPN+.