DEKALB, Ill. – NIU women's soccer returns to campus for its regular season home opener on Sunday while the Huskie men's soccer team plays a pair of road games to open its 2026 regular season. NIU volleyball also hosts its second exhibition game to highlight the action this week in Huskie Athletics. 

Men's Soccer
Thursday, Aug. 20: at Butler, 4 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats
Sunday, Aug. 23: at Loyola Chicago, 1 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats

The Huskie men's soccer team opens the 2026 season with a pair of road games as NIU travels to Butler on Thursday, Aug. 20, and Loyola Chicago on Sunday, Aug. 23. Both opponents enter the 2026 season with first-year head coaches as Ian Sarachan begins his tenure at Butler and Kevin Robson takes over this season at Loyola. NIU is coming off an 8-5-4 campaign in 2025, winning a share of the Missouri Valley Conference title, the Huskies have been picked to finish third in the 2026 Under Armour Horizon League Preseason Poll. 

Women's Soccer
Sunday, Aug. 23: vs. Northern Iowa, 2 p.m. – Live Stats | Free Admission

Coming off a 2-2 draw this past Sunday (Aug. 16) at DePaul, the NIU women's soccer team will host Northern Iowa in its lone game this week as the Panthers come to DeKalb on Sunday, Aug. 23. Mckenna Campbell-Turkalj and Abby Foulk each tallied a goal and an assist on the opening weekend of the season while freshman Alexandra Devory started both matches in goal and recorded 11 saves. Northern Iowa opened the season with a pair of setbacks against South Dakota and Milwaukee; the Panthers will host Omaha on Thursday (Aug. 20), before coming to DeKalb. 

Volleyball
Saturday, Aug. 22: vs. Illinois State, 2 p.m. – Buy Tickets

NIU volleyball will play its second exhibition game this Saturday, Aug. 22, when the Huskies host Illinois State at 2 p.m. in the NIU Convocation Center. Saturday's exhibition contest is a paid admission event and tickets are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets. NIU will open the 2026 regular season at the Southern Indiana Invitational, Aug. 28-29.