EVANSTON, Ill. - Northern Illinois scored four first half goals with senior Luis De La Cerda recording two goals and an assist to lead the Huskie men's soccer team to a 5-0 win over Lafayette in the opening game of Northwestern's Lakeside Classic at Lakeside Field in Evanston.
With the victory, Northern Illinois improved its record to 3-2-2 on the season as the Huskies won their second straight match. Lafayette, which came into Friday's match undefeated and had surrendered just one goal on the year, dropped to 4-1-1.
While the five-goal scoring output put a smile on NIU coach Eric Luzzi's face, he was most impressed by the play of the Huskie defense. The Leopards out-shot Northern Illinois, 17-11, and had eight corner kicks to none for NIU.
"It was kind of an odd game," Luzzi said. "At the end of the day, they outshot us. They put a lot of pressure on us in terms of driving, and putting dangerous serves into the penalty box. You see five goals [for NIU] and that's a good statement for our attack, but really our back four [players] were spectacular from a standpoint of battling and winning difficult challenges with head balls in the air and balls in the box."
Northern Illinois took a 1-0 lead at the 14:48 mark in the first half as De La Cerda set up Josh Karsten who put a header in the net for his second goal of the year. Less than five minutes later, De La Cerda did the work himself, scoring in the upper right corner of the net off of a direct kick after a hand ball call. The senior from Guadalajara, Mexico continued his first half onslaught in the 24th minute with the goal Luzzi called the prettiest of the day as Juan Hoyos executed a perfect one time pass with his chest right into the path of De La Cerda, who finished for a 3-0 Huskie advantage.
