The National Football Post released its post spring Non-AQ power rankings today and the Huskies slotted in at No. 5 just ahead of Houston, but below Arkansas State. While the 2012 NIU football team won't be the same team as last year's version, the Huskies proved they were a better team than Arkansas State with a 38-20 victory over the Red Wolves in the 2012 GoDaddy.com Bowl in January.

Current NIU soccer players Jordan Godsey, Isaac Kannah and Sean Totsch saw their U.S. Open Cup adventure end at the hands of former Huskie Kyle Knotek on Tuesday night as the Dayton Dutch Lions eliminated the Chicago Fire Premier Development League team, 2-1, in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Godsey, Kannah and Knotek all started the match as the two teams tangled for the right to move on to play the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer in the third round. Kannah nearly opened the scoring in the 25th minute as his shot from just outside the box forced an excellent diving save from the Lion goalkeeper. After the Fire tied the match in the 90th minute, the Lions answered in stoppage time to claim the victory and advance to the next round.

Knotek and the Lions will meet the Crew next Tuesday, May 29, at 7:30 p.m. ET in Columbus.  

The Northern Illinois football program's propensity to develop 1,000-yard rushers was noticed by Yahoo! Sports today.  Since 2000 in the FBS, only Nevada has produced more 1,000-yard rushers (12) than NIU (11).  Wisconsin also has 11.  Only seven total FBS schools have churned out 10 or more 1,000-yard rushers since the turn of the century.  The impressive list of Huskies to reach 1,000 yards in a season is as follows:

2011 -- Chandler Harnish (1,379 yards, 98.5 yards/game, 7.1 yards/rush, 11 TD)

2010 -- Chad Spann (1,388 yards, 99.1 yards/game, 5.4 yards/rush, 22 TD)

2009 -- Chad Spann (1,038 yards, 79.8 yards/game, 5.8 yards/rush, 19 TD)

2007 -- Justin Anderson (1,245 yards, 103.8 yards/game, 4.5 yards/rush, 8 TD)

2006 -- Garrett Wolfe (1,928 yards, 148.3 yards/game, 6.2 yards/rush, 18 TD)

2005 -- Garrett Wolfe (1,580 yards, 175.6 yards/game, 6.5 yards/rush, 16 TD)

2004 -- Garrett Wolfe (1,656 yards, 150.5 yards/game, 6.5 yards/rush, 18 TD)

2003 -- Michael Turner (1,648 yards, 137.3 yards/game, 5.3 yards/rush, 14 TD)

2002 -- Michael Turner (1,915 yards, 159.5 yards/game, 5.7 yards/rush, 19 TD)

2001 -- Thomas Hammock (1,096 yards, 99.6 yards/game, 4.1 yards/rush, 7 TD)

2000 -- Thomas Hammock (1,083 yards, 120.3 yards/game, 5.8 yards/rush, 16 TD)

She torched the NIU Convocation Center nets to become the 25th member of NIU women's basketball's 1,000-point club, and now Jessie Wilcox (2005-09) will put her experience and expertise as a player to use on the other side of the sport -- coaching.  The former standout Huskie guard was recently named head varsity girls basketball coach at Rosary High School in nearby Aurora, Ill.    

Xavier Silas made his first appearance of the playoffs last night in game three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics. Silas played a pair of minutes, scoring two points while also grabbing an offensive rebound. Silas and the Sixers fell to the Boston Celtics last night, 107-91, and trail 2-1 in the series. Game four against Boston will take place on Friday night in Philadelphia.  

Three members of the Northern Illinois men's soccer team, Jordan Godsey, Isaac Kannah and Sean Totsch, helped the Chicago Fire Premier Development League team to a 1-0 victory over the Croatian Eagles on Tuesday night in the First Round of the U.S. Open Cup.

Kannah scored the lone goal for the Fire while Godsey made seven saves en route to the shutout. With the victory, the Fire PDL team advances to play the Dayton Dutch Lions of the USL Pro Division next Tuesday, May 22, at the Toyota Park Practice Field in Bridgeview, Ill., at 6 p.m.

In its 99th year, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is open to all affiliated amateur and professional teams in the United States. Should Godsey, Kannah, Totsch and the Fire PDL team defeat the Dayton Dutch Lions next Tuesday, they would be drawn to play against a Major League Soccer team in the Third Round of the U.S. Open Cup.

Northern Illinois track & field assistant coach Kevin Dwyer will be competing in Missouri's Audrey Walton Combined Event meet Wednesday and Thursday for a shot at qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials, which take place June 21-July 3 in Eugene, Ore. In order for Dwyer to get to the trials, he will have to score 7,900 points for an automatic berth or 7,600 points for a provisional spot.

The third-year assistant burst onto the national scene back in March when he took fourth place in the heptathlon at the USATF Indoor Combined Events Championships in Indiana. In fact, Dwyer was in first place after day one and still maintained a slim lead going into the final event.

For complete results of the meet, go to MUTigers.com

The new wallpaper for the upcoming 2012 football season is available now on NIUHuskies.com. Show your Huskie pride and download it today!

Baseball: The Huskies' MAC Tournament hopes took a hit this weekend as they were swept by Western Michigan. NIU fell to the Broncos in a 13-9 slugfest to begin the three-game set on Friday. On Saturday, the Huskies nearly tied the game in the top of the ninth, but WMU was able to get the last out on a play at the plate and hold on for a 5-4 victory. The trip closed out with a 6-1 loss Sunday.

Track & Field: Northern Illinois posted a program-best 53.33 points at the MAC Outdoor Championships to take eighth place. Janay Mitchell won the conference's 100 meters title by recording the top times in the prelims and the final. In addition, the quartet of Chanel Kellyman, Roneisha Frye, Mitchell and Rasheta Butler dominated the 4x100 relay to take first, beating second place Western Michigan by nearly a half-second. Additionally, Roneisha Frye also got All-MAC honors for her second-place finish in the 100 hurdles, setting a school record at 13.63 in the finals.

Baseball will be the lone team in action this week as they close out their regular season with a busy week. NIU travels to Milwaukee to face the Panthers on Tuesday, then returns home Thursday to start a three-game, MAC regular season-ending series with Ball State at Ralph McKinzie Field.

Sure it's only May and the Northern Illinois University football team doesn't open camp for about another three months, but it's never too early for a 2012 football preview. At least that's the way CollegeFootballNews.com looks at it. It posted this preview of the 2012 NIU Football season complete with a breakdown of the Huskie offense and NIU defense as well as a depth chart.

Baseball: Northern Illinois continued to struggle at home, but did pick up a midweek win on the road. NIU started the week off with a rain-soaked 2-1 loss to Northwestern at Geneva's Elfstrom Stadium on Tuesday. The Huskies rebounded with a dramatic 11-9 win at UIC Wednesday. However, Central Michigan added to Northern's home woes, sweeping the Huskies in the three-game set with scores of 11-2, 3-1 and 7-0.

Softball: The Huskies' season came to an end over the weekend as they dropped two games to Western Michigan. After leading early in Saturday's tilt, NIU fell to the Broncos, 5-3. Things were very similar in the second game of the series on Sunday, as NIU took a 2-1 lead through the first inning and a half. However, WMU put up one run in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 4-2 decision.

Men's Golf: Northern Illinois finished in seventh place as hosts of the 2012 Mid-American Conference Championships at Rich Harvest Farms after the final round of the tournament was cancelled due to inclement weather. Individually, freshman Thomas Dunne led the way for the Huskies with a tie for eighth place.

Two Huskie squads - baseball and track & field - are in action during finals week. The track & field team heads to Central Michigan for the 2012 Mid-American Outdoor Championships, which take place Thursday through Saturday. For baseball, they head to Kalamazoo Friday for a pivotal three-game set against the Western Michigan Broncos.

Junior to be Amy Carr will be making a trek across the Atlantic this summer, and not just to go home. No, the native of Hemel Hempstead, England will be making a trip to Cape Town, South Africa this summer to teach and coach the fundamentals of soccer and other sports like rugby and cricket to children ages 7-to-16 for four weeks this summer. Daily Chonicle sports writer Steve Nitz interviewed Carr last Thursday and the story appeared in this morning's edition.

The Huskies brought in two new members to the family this weekend.

Business Office Account Tech Jake Waddle and his wife, Amy, welcomed Zachary Peter Waddle into the world Friday (May 4) afternoon at 3:20 p.m. He weighed in at 8 lbs., 8 oz. and is 20 inches long. Zachary joins his older brother Levi, who is three.

Meanwhile, NIU Football Graduate Assistant Joe Tripodi and his wife, Rachel, are the proud parents of Emma Sarah Tripodi. Emma was born Sunday (May 6) at 11:38 p.m., weighing 8.1 lbs. and measured 20 inches long.

NIU congratulates the Waddles and Tripodis on their new additions.