BOCA RATON, Fla. – With temperatures in the low-90's, the Northern Illinois men's soccer team turned up the heat on Florida Atlantic, beating the Owls 3-1, Sunday.
The Huskies (8-6-1) evened their Mid-American Conference record at 2-2-0, and have outscored their last two opponents 8-2. NIU coach Eric Luzzi, who tied a 40-year-old Northern Illinois record for most wins by a first year head coach with eight, was impressed with his team's first half offense,
"In the first half, the quality of runs and movement with our strikers was pretty dangerous," Luzzi said.
Defensively, NIU shutout the Owls (4-8-2, 0-4-0 MAC) for the first 70 minutes of the match.
"We put enough pressure on them in the right parts of the field to make it a little difficult for them to do what they wanted offensively," Luzzi said.
Senior Ben Thomas opened the scoring for Northern Illinois in the seventh minute. Thomas snuck behind the defense with a well-timed run where he was found by Luis De La Cerda, and beat FAU keeper Jeremy Crumpton.
Junior Juan Hoyos added a tally in the 35th minute. Centerback Josh Karsten became the third Huskie to score five goals this year when he put one in the net with a header near the end of the opening period. Midfielder Engebreth Faerden assisted both Hoyos' and Karsten's goals, to bring his team-leading assist total to five.
Northern Illinois' eight goals in its last two matches is the most in a two-game span since 2000, when NIU beat DePaul 6-2, and followed that with a 2-1 victory over Buffalo.
"Our forwards did a good job in the first half of getting in behind the defense," Luzzi said. "We still have room for improvement in game management, and maintaining a high energy level for 90 minutes."
