Aug. 20, 2011

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Freshman Isaac Kannah scored a pair of goals as the Northern Illinois men's soccer team closed the exhibition portion of its schedule with a 2-1 win over No. 19 Michigan State on Saturday evening at the Shindigz National Soccer Festival.

"It's a preseason game," said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. "So we were looking to learn more about ourselves. Our guys are at the end of a long preseason and you could see that in their performance but they fought through that fatigue and found a way to score a couple of goals.

Kannah opened the scoring in the first half with an unassisted tally, his third goal of the exhibition season. Kannah also had a pair of goals in the Huskies' last exhibition game against Indianapolis.

The freshman from Plymouth, Minn., then doubled NIU's advantage later in the first half with a goal off a feed from sophomore James Stevenson.

Sophomore Miles Herbert played the first 45 minutes in goal for NIU and junior Jordan Godsey came on to play the second stanza.

Less than a minute after the intermission, Michigan State halved the Northern Illinois lead with a goal. The Spartans carried the play for a good portion of the second 45 minutes but were unable to break down Huskie defense for a second time as NIU closed the exhibition slate with a 3-0 record.  

"In general, there have certainly been more positives than negatives about the preseason," said Luzzi. "We have really enjoyed the group; the guys are working hard and have bought in. There is a genuine, tight-knit bond already forming among this group and that is always a priority, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done on both sides of the ball."

NIU will open the regular season on Saturday, Aug. 27 when the Huskies travel to meet 10-time national champion Saint Louis. The regular season opener against the Billikens is scheduled for 7 p.m.