A winning record will be on the line this weekend as the NIU men’s soccer team hosts the NIU/Adidas Invitational.

The tournament features NIU, Xavier, Eastern Illinois and No. 14 Northwestern at the new soccer complex west of the NIU football field.

Northwestern and Eastern Illinois will open the tournament today at 11:30 a.m. before the Huskies take the field at 5 p.m.

According to NIU head coach Steve Simmons, the team is excited to be playing in a tournament at home.

“The guys love playing at home and love playing on the new facility,” Simmons said. “And for a men’s tournament, we were able to bring high-level teams to our area. It should be a great tournament to play and to watch.”

NIU will go head to head with Xavier for the first time in the school’s history. The Musketeers (0-3-0) have started the season off on the wrong foot, but Simmons said that Xavier’s losing record could be misleading.

Going into today’s match, Xavier failed to prove that they can execute on offense. The Musketeer’s have one goal in three games, without an assist.

“Statistics are misleading and they are such a good team that they are going to win a game, or many games soon,” he said. “They have an exciting front line and it’s only going to be a matter of time until they hit their rhythm. We just don’t want it to happen on our watch.”

Xavier’s goalie Adam Sokolowski has been a highlight for the team, though he needs strong defense to back him up throughout the tournament. Sokolowski has 15 saves on the season and has let five balls reach the back of the net.

“We want to be as aggressive as we can toward goal, but we have two very different opponents that have equally good fire power,” Simmons said. “So we need to perform on both ends in order to perform the way we have been.”

On Sunday, the tournament continues as Xavier will try to top Northwestern at noon, before the Huskies take the field against Eastern Illinois at 2:30 p.m.

The rivalry between the Huskies and Panthers (3-1-0) dates back 45 years, wherein 25 matches EIU found victory 16 times. NIU won seven of those matches and tied in two.

The Panthers are riding a three game winning streak coming into the start of the tournament and may threaten the Huskie defense.

EIU’s Alex Harrison tallied seven points in the team’s last two matches, notching three goals and an assist. NIU will have to keep their heads up on defense to stop him from making his way to the goal.

“We are going to play teams who have those types of players,” Simmons said. “We need to be defensively sound. Our guys need to make a note that the margin of error for a player like that is very small. Obviously he is good enough to make you pay.”

NIU will not face Northwestern in the tournament. However, the two teams will match up on the pitch at Northwestern in Oct.

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