Courtesy of NIU Media Relations
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Juan Hoyos found his confidence, and opponents of the Northern Illinois men's soccer team are suffering the consequences. After netting the gamewinner against Wisconsin three days ago, Hoyos scored twice in the Huskies' 3-0 win over Bowling Green on Saturday.
The Huskies improved to 10-6-1, and 3-2-0 in league play while clinching a berth to the four-team Mid-American Conference Tournament, which begins Friday, Nov. 13.
"Clinching a place in the tournament is a nice reward for the focus the guys have played with the last couple of weeks," NIU coach Eric Luzzi said. "Obviously, it's just one of many goals we hoped to accomplish this year. There are still plenty of goals ahead."
While Hoyos finished as the day's top scorer, it was his Waubonsie Valley High School teammate Luis De La Cerda that netted the game-winner. De La Cerda put the Huskies up 1-0 in the 20th minute after lobbing a ball into the upper corner from 30 yards out. De La Cerda continued to help the offense by assisting Hoyos' first goal of the match 12 minutes later. Hoyos added his second tally of the match and fourth goal of the season in the 78th minute to lock up the win.
"Juan is such a physical specimen, he presents a challenge that opponents don't regularly see," Luzzi said. "Add to that the motivation to stay in the starting lineup or get minutes because we have such great competition at our striker spots, and he can be very effective."
Poor weather conditions further underscored the efficiency of Northern Illinois' attack.
"Our guys focused and played through some very tough conditions," Luzzi said. "The rain DeKalb had yesterday was here last night, and the field got pretty torn up because of it."
