Oct. 28, 2008

DeKALB - The Northern Illinois men's soccer team hosts Wisconsin in the final home match of 2008, Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex.

"Wisconsin is a very well coached team," NIU head coach Steve Simmons said. "Their staff does a tremendous job of putting the pieces together."

The Huskies have gone 8-3-4 this season and sit in second place in the Mid-American Conference with a 3-1-1 record. They are coming off a 1-0 win over Bowling Green, and are now unbeaten in four out of their last five matches.

NIU has won three of the last four meetings with the Badgers (8-6-2, 1-4-1 Big Ten), including a 1-0 overtime result when the teams last met in DeKalb in 2006. Last year, the Badgers took advantage of an early own-goal from NIU, and carried the momentum to a 4-0 win in Madison.

"We had probably our best performing game, but the results didn't reflect that," Simmons said.

The Badgers are coming off a 4-1 win over Penn State, and are scoring 1.62 goals per match, third best in the Big Ten. The win over PSU was the second four-goal outburst Wisconsin has achieved this year. The Badgers also put four goals on Milwaukee, the same team NIU tied, 2-2, earlier this season.

The Huskies are coming down the home stretch of the regular season. After Wednesday's match, only games at Duke and Western Michigan remain on the schedule. According to Simmons, NIU's depth has helped carry it through the first 15 games of the year, and should continue to boost the Huskies through the upcoming MAC Tournament.

"The depth really gives us a chance to sustain hits on injuries," he said. "What it also does, it extends the legs of our players when we go into weeks of multiple games."

NIU has had 15 players start more than five games a piece, while 21 athletes have made at least one start. Those players are sharing the scoring burden, as 12 different Huskies have found the net this year, compared to only eight in 2007.

"They've been dynamite," Simmons said of the newcomers. "The 10 new players we have on have done a good job competing in training, and those who have opportunities on the field, delivering good performances to help us get results."

Whether young or old, Simmons said the line-up that hits the field Wednesday for the battle with the Badgers with have to play with passion and vigor to come away with a result.

"We're trying to peak at the time that counts, in this last push," he said.