DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's soccer team welcomes Drake to DeKalb on Friday night (Nov. 1) for the final home game of the season for the Huskies. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and NIU will honor its four seniors in a ceremony at 6 p.m. 

"We are excited to be back at home on Friday," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We still have everything to play for, the guys have been training really well and I think the mentality of the squad is positive. We are ready to get out there and hopefully there will be a big Huskie crowd behind us."

The four seniors to be honored prior to Friday's contest are Braeden Beard (Olathe, Kan./Olathe Northwest), Kevin Kelly (Dublin, Ireland/St. Joseph Rush), Ben Suddeth (Winfield, Ill./West Chicago) and Zachariah Thomas (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary). 

"All four of those guys have been great servants to the program," said Swan. "They have all stepped up as leaders this year. It is always bittersweet this time of year, it is great to recognize what they have done, but you also start to realize that they are coming to the end of their time here. The priority is to give a good showing for them Friday and hopefully extend their season beyond next Wednesday."

NIU is coming off a 1-0 victory at Belmont last Friday (Oct. 25) as Grant Paskus (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) scored in the 89th minute, his first collegiate goal, to give the Huskies the win. Paskus became the 10th different Huskie to score a goal this season. 

Joe Hernandez (Bensenville, Ill./York Community) recorded his first assist on the Paskus goal while Atahan Arslan (Ismir, Turkiye) recorded his second shutout of the season. 

Drake comes into Friday's contest with an 8-3-3 overall record, 4-0-2 in league play. The Bulldogs are second in the Missouri Valley Conference with 14 points, two points behind league leading Missouri State. Damian Segura leads Drake with five goals and 11 points while Tomas Butkovic has played every minute in goal for the Bulldogs, posting a 1.00 goals against average and a .708 save percentage. 

"Drake is having a fantastic season," said Swan. "They are very good on set pieces; they have some very good attacking players. I thought they were good last year, but they have added pieces to make them even better this year. Hats off to Coach (Pat) Flinn and his staff, they have put themselves in a great position and I'm sure it will be a tough contest."

NIU goes into Friday's match with three points in the league standings, just three points behind UIC for the sixth, and final, spot in the conference tournament. 

Following the Drake match, NIU will close the regular season on the road at Bradley on Wednesday, Nov. 6.