DEKALB, Ill. – Jose Gomez (Roatan, Honduras/Clarke University) opened the scoring in the first half before the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team added three more goals in the second half to earn a 4-2 victory over Chicago State on Sunday evening (Aug. 25) in the home opener at the NIU Soccer Complex. 

In addition to Gomez, Martin Montoya (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central), William Mugisha (Salt Lake City, Utah/Utah State Eastern) and Jaephil Seo (Seoul, South Korea/Bryan College) all scored to give the Huskies a 4-0 lead before a pair of late consolation goals by the Cougars. Each of the four Huskie goal scorers netted their first career goals at NIU in the win. 

"The most important thing was getting a win today, so I'm happy we did that," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "I thought for the majority of the game we were pretty good, especially late on in the first half. Chicago State came out pretty aggressively to start the second half, gave us some problems, but once we settled in, I was happy with our composure on the ball and, obviously, our attacking side getting four goals tonight."

NIU's four goals in the contest marked its most in a game against a Division I opponent since scoring five in the Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals against Bowling Green on Nov. 11, 2021. 

The Huskies (1-1-0) created the majority of chances in the early going and finally broke the deadlock in the 29th minute through Gomez. Kevin Kelly (Dublin, Ireland/St. Joseph Rush) played played a ball into the run of Montoya who tight angle shot was saved by Chicago State goalkeeper Lucas Fontana, but the rebound fell kindly to Gomez on the top of the six-yard box and he finished into an open goal to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead they would take into halftime. 

Just past the hour mark, Montoya scored to double the Huskie advantage. Kelly occupied a Chicago State (0-2-0) defend to allow Montoya to collect the ball 30 yards from goal before cutting past another Cougar defender just inside the top of the box before firing a shot into the upper corner to give NIU a 2-0 lead in the 63rd minute. 

Nine minutes later, Sam Divis (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) played an excellent ball across the box toward Mugisha who raced onto it at the back post and first a first-time shot past a helpless Fontana from close range to give the Huskies a three-goal advantage. 

The goals kept coming for the home side as Seo added a fourth in the 79th minute. After Chicago State had been reduced to 10-men following a second yellow card on Jose Ibarra, Kelly found the run of Tom Dahlin (Stockholm, Sweden/Danderyds Gymnasium) who drove to the end line before cutting back to Seo on the top of the six-yard box for a tap-in to give NIU a 4-0 lead. 

Three of NIU's four goals came from off the bench, leaving Swan pleased with the contribution from his substitutes. 

"With Martin (Montoya), even though he is a freshman, we have been really impressed with him in preseason," said Swan. "He just has to have that confidence on the field, we talked about him being in contention for a starting spot. When he got on, we knew what he could do, and he did a fantastic job. Jaephil (Seo) and William (Mugisha) came off the bench and scored goals, Sam (Divis) had a fantastic assist, so we are pretty happy with the depth in the squad right now and hopefully that will serve us well this season."

In the final 10 minutes, Chicago State spoiled the NIU shutout as Hilary Odhiambo and Danail Sergiev both scored to trim the final margin to just two. 

Caleb Pearson (Fort Worth, Texas/LD Bell) made four saves while picking up his first career victory, Fontana made seven saves for the Cougars. 

NIU will return to action on Thursday, Aug. 29, when the Huskies travel to Memphis, Tenn., to face the Memphis Tigers. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be available on ESPN+.