It was a monumental week for Northern Illinois athletics, as the men's soccer team won the MAC Tournament championship - earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament in the process - and the volleyball team won the MAC West Division and regular season titles.

Football: The Huskie offense kept up their offensive momentum Tuesday against Bowling Green with a 45-14 thrashing of the Falcons. Chandler Harnish led the NIU attack with 294 yards passing and 151 on the ground, while the entire offense accumulated 623 total yards on the BGSU defense. On the other side of the line, the Huskie defense shut out the Falcon offense in the second half, limiting them to a measly 90 yards in the last 30 minutes of the game.

Volleyball: Northern Illinois went 2-0 during the week to clinch the 2011 MAC regular season championship and the top seed in this week's MAC Tournament. On Thursday, the team traveled to Kalamazoo, Mich., where they dispatched the Western Michigan Broncos, 3-1, to wrap up the MAC title. The Huskies extended their winning streak to 13 matches Saturday with a hard-fought 3-2 win against Bowling Green.

Men's Basketball: NIU opened their regular season Friday night in West Lafayette, Ind., where they fell to the Purdue Boilermakers, 96-34, in the rededication of Mackey Arena. Tim Toler paced the Huskie offense with 11 points on the night, while Freshman wing Abdel Nader added nine points and freshman forward Kevin Gray grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.

Women's Basketball: The Huskies dropped two games during the week to open their 2011-12 season. Tuesday, the team lost in an exhibition game against Indiana Wesleyan, 61-52, as NIU struggled to find any offense. They followed that up Sunday by dropping a 73-42 decision in Chicago against the Ramblers of Loyola. Ashley Sneed led NIU with a career-high 12 points on the day.

Men's Soccer: Northern Illinois brought home the MAC Tournament championship and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament over the weekend with a pair of wins in Akron, Ohio. In the semifinals Friday, the Huskies used a Gael Rivera second half goal to get past Buffalo, 1-0, meaning they would face fourth-seeded Western Michigan, who upset top-seed Akron on penalty kicks earlier in the day. Sunday's title match also came down to the wire, but Sean Totsch found the back of the WMU net with 6:40 left in regulation to win, 1-0. NIU's NCAA Tournament opponent will be determined Monday afternoon on NCAA.com.

Wrestling: Northern Illinois put two wrestlers on the podium Saturday at the Michigan State Open, as Nick Smith and Rob Jillard both took top four finishes in East Lansing, Mich. Smith, who was competing less than two hours from his hometown of Ida, Mich., advanced all the way to the finals after winning three matches at 125. However, he would fall in the championship to Northwestern's Levi Mele. Jillard finished fourth at 133 after making it to the semifinals with two dominating wins.

Cross Country: The NIU cross country team closed out their 2011 season Saturday when they hosted the 2011 NCAA Midwest Regional. The team finished 28th behind Courtney Oldenburg's time of 23:21.16 on the 6K NIU North 40 to finish 121st. Further behind the junior was freshman Jamie Burr, who posted a season-best second place showing among Huskie runners with a time of 24:25.02 to take 164th overall.

Northern will have at least one team competing every day this week, including a host of games in DeKalb. Football highlights the week with a Tuesday night showdown against Ball State at Huskie Stadium in the Battle for the Bronze stalk. In addition, men's and women's basketball each have a pair of home games, including a doubleheader Sunday, while men's soccer will learn their opponent for Thursday's first round Monday afternoon. The top-seeded women's volleyball team will head east to Geneva, Ohio, to compete in the MAC Tournament.

The Huskies closed out October with a light week of competition, as only five teams were in action. Despite the short week, it was a highly successful one with volleyball extending their season-long winning streak and men's soccer clinching a spot in the MAC Tournament.

Volleyball: The Huskies made it nine in a row this weekend in Michigan as they recorded wins at Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan. On Friday, NIU avenged last month's home loss to the Eagles with a 3-1 victory in Ypsilanti, Mich. The win also gave Huskie head coach Ray Gooden his fourth 20-win season in ten season at Northern. The Huskies followed that up Saturday with another 3-1 win, this time against the Chippewas of Central Michigan.

Men's Soccer: Northern Illinois posted their third-straight conference win and clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament with a 3-0 rout of Bowling Green. Pat Sloan, Kenny Kranz and Jayson LeSeth all scored goals for the Huskies in the win, while goalie Jordan Godsey made four saves to record the shutout. The shutout was the ninth of the season for NIU.

Women's Soccer: The Huskies closed out their 2011 season with a tough 2-0 loss to Western Michigan in DeKalb. NIU had several chances to score, but was unable to find the back of the net in the loss. Northern finishes the season with a 2-15-2 record overall and 1-10-0 in the MAC.

Cross Country: Northern Illinois placed 11th at the MAC Championships Saturday in Muncie, Ind., posting a one spot improvement from last season. Courtney Oldenburg led the way for NIU with a time of 23:01.60, taking 54th place in the field. In second place for the Huskies was Claire McAuley, who crossed the finish line in 23:05.10.

Wrestling: NIU kicked off their 2011-12 season Saturday afternoon with the annual Wrestle-Offs. The exhibition, which helps determine the starting lineup for the season, saw the Black team top Red by a 17-14 margin. Nick Smith, Kevin Fanta, Tyler Loethen and Arber Bebo notched wins for Black, while Rob Jillard, Caleb Busson, Mike Lukowski and Jared Torrence got wins for Red.

The Huskies kick off November with football taking on Toledo at the Glass Bowl Tuesday night and men's basketball opening their season with an exhibition at the Convocation Center against Carthage. In addition, volleyball is at home against Toledo and Ball State, wrestling hosts Stanford and North Central and men's soccer travels to Milwaukee and Hartwick.

Northern Illinois cross country is offering prizes for social media users who use Twitter and Facebook to connect with the NCAA Regional Championship being hosted by NIU on November 12th, at Noon on the NIU North 40.

Twitter Contest

Twitter followers have a chance to win prizes by tweeting about the NCAA Regional Cross Country Championship.

To enter the contest simply tweet something about the NCAA Regional and include the hash tag #NIURegional in your tweet. Things you can tweet about include letting your twitter followers know details about the event, who your favorite team is, what you're looking forward to seeing or anything else on your mind related to the event. You can also tweet a link to the meet web site or the shortened link (http://tiny.cc/ncaaxc).

Don't forget to include the hash tag #NIURegional

Facebook Contest

Facebook users have a chance to win prizes by visiting the Facebook event page for the NCAA Regional Cross Country Championship.

To enter the contest, simply visit the Facebook page and click "Attending" for the event.  Be sure to share the event page and to invite your Facebook friends to attend as well.

Prizes

Each Thursday leading up to the event one Twitter user and one Facebook user will be selected to win free admission, free VIP parking and NCAA Championship apparel. Entrants may tweet multiple times to help their chances and Facebook users can increase their odds of winning by sharing the event page and inviting their Facebook friends to attend. Prize winners will be contacted through their Twitter and Facebook accounts.

About the Regional

As one of nine regional championships held nationally at the Division I level, NIU will host the Midwest's 33 Division I cross country participating schools from the states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The Midwest Region includes schools from 10 conferences, including the Atlantic 10, Big 12, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Conference USA, Great West, Horizon League, Mid-American, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley and Summit League.

In addition to the Midwest Region Championship determining the top regional teams, the event also serves as the first round of the NCAA Championships, as the top two teams and top four individuals not on a qualifying team automatically advance to the national championship. Additional teams and individuals are chosen through an at-large process following the regional competition.

For more information on the NCAA Regional Championship, click here.

The middle week of October was a successful one for NIU Athletics. The hallmark moment was off the field, though, as the Kenneth and Ellen Chessick Practice Center Campaign kicked off Saturday before the Huskie football team took on Western Michigan for Homecoming. The 83,500 square foot facility will house a full-size, 120-yard artificial surface football practice field with buffer space surrounding the field on all sides, in addition to a four-lane track, batting cages, and storage cages, among other amenities.

Football: It was a very successful Homecoming for the Huskies, as NIU throttled West Division rival Western Michigan, 51-22. Northern accumulated 697 yards of total offense against the Broncos, including 494 on the ground. In addition, Chandler Harnish became the 11th quarterback in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision history to gain 200 yards rushing and passing in the same game.

Volleyball: Northern Illinois earned their second consecutive 2-0 weekend with two key wins over MAC East foes Akron and Buffalo. On Friday, the Huskies were pushed to five sets against the Zips, but used a commanding fifth set to propel them to a 3-2 win over UA. NIU returned to the court Saturday night against Buffalo, defeating the Bulls in a 3-0 sweep. Sophomore Lauren Wicinski led the Huskie attack with a career-high seven aces.

Men's Soccer: NIU traveled to Northwestern in their lone match of the week Wednesday. Despite solid defense in the first half and some chances on offense, the Wildcats dropped the Huskies at Lakeside Field, 2-0. The loss was the first for NIU against a Big Ten opponent in over two years.

Women's Soccer: It was a heartbreaking two matches for the Huskies, as they were dealt two one-goal losses at home. On Friday, NIU lost to Eastern Michigan, 1-0, on a windy day at the NIU Soccer Complex. The Huskies returned to action Sunday afternoon with a match against defending MAC champion Central Michigan. Despite limiting the Chippewas' offense to only seven shots on goal, Northern still dropped the match, 1-0.

Cross Country: The Huskies wrapped up their 2011 regular season with a 14th place out of 21 teams showing at the Bradley Classic in Peoria, Ill. Courtney Oldenburg led the way for NIU with a time of 22:42.09, which ranks as the 12th best 6K time in NIU history.

Men's Tennis: NIU headed east to Columbus, Ohio, for the ITA Midwest Regionals. In the main draws, Axel Lagerlof advanced to the Round of 32 before falling to 15th-seeded Stephen Hoh of Illinois in straight sets. In doubles, Maksym Bartiuk and Roman Turtygin also advanced to the Round of 32, but fell to Ohio State's 12th-ranked duo of Kevin Metka and Steven Williams, 8-1.

Women's Golf: Northern Illinois could not solve the Hawthornes Golf and Country Club course Monday and Tuesday in Fishers, Ind., as they placed 14th at the MAC Preview. Allie Parthie led NIU tied for 72nd place with a 171-shot performance.

Six Huskie teams will be in action during the upcoming week, including a pair of men's soccer matches at the NIU Soccer Complex Wednesday and Sunday and volleyball hosting Kent State and MAC-leading Ohio at Victor E. Court.

The Labor Day weekend was a busy one for Huskie athletics, as five teams were in action during the long weekend. During the week, the Huskies finished 7-1-1 in competition, while volleyball won the Bluejay Invitational in Omaha, Neb., and men's soccer took the Michigan Invitational title.

Football: The Huskies kicked off their season in dominating fashion Saturday night with a convincing 49-26 triumph over the Army Black Knights. After Army drew within 7-6 midway through the first quarter, Chandler Harnish and the Huskie offense exploded for 42 unanswered points en route to a 49-6 lead after the third quarter. The Huskies would finish the game with 509 total yards of offense against the Black Knight defense.

Volleyball: Coming off a 3-0 win against Green Bay on Tuesday, the Huskies took home the Bluejay Invitational title in Omaha, Neb. The team opened with a 3-0 sweep of host Creighton on Friday night. They followed that up on Saturday morning by toppling Marquette by a 3-1 margin. They would close things out against South Dakota with a 3-0 sweep of the Coyotes to clinch the tournament title.

Men's Soccer: Northern Illinois captured the Michigan Invitational title over the weekend with two wins over 2010 NCAA Tournament squads. On Friday, NIU knocked off Oakland, 2-1, on a 85th minute goal from Pat Sloan. They would follow that up on Sunday with a 1-0 shutout of the host Wolverines, with Sloan scoring the lone tally in the match.

Women's Soccer: The Huskies had two matches over the weekend against Missouri Valley Conference members Illinois State and Northern Iowa. On Friday, NIU made the short trip south to Normal, Ill., where they fell to the Redbirds, 5-0. However, Sunday's performance against the UNI Panthers was more promising in a 1-1 tie. Despite falling behind early, the Huskies tacked on a goal in the 46th minute from Corrine Frankenberg. However, neither team was able to break the deadlock.

Cross Country: Northern Illinois opened their 2011 season at the UIC Opener in Palos Heights, Ill., which was the Huskie debut for head coach Greg Hipp. Courtney Oldenburg led the way for NIU with a 12th place finish on the two-mile course, crossing the line with a time of 11:48.90. Also in the top half of the field were Claire McAuley (25th - 12:15.10) and freshman Jamie Burr (26th - 12:15.90).

All five squads will be in action next weekend as well, including men's soccer hosting the NIU adidas Invitational Friday & Sunday, women's soccer at home against Wisconsin Thursday and cross country hosting the NIU Open on the North 40 course Saturday morning. Stay tuned to www.niuhuskies.com for all the latest news on Huskie athletics.

The Huskie cross country team took off for the 2010 MAC Championships this morning. As NIU tradition dictates, Huskie staff members (and one special fan!) came out to send the team off in style.

In four years with both the NIU cross country and track & field teams, senior Sunsea Shaw has acquired her fair share of accolades, and this weekend she was able to add one more honor to her already successful career as a Huskie student-athlete-- Homecoming Queen. At the NIU-Buffalo homecoming football game last weekend, Sunsea ran past the competition as she was named NIU's 2010 Homecoming Queen, truly demonstrating her success as a Huskie champion in the classroom, competition and in life. Congratulations Sunsea!