With a seven-game home winning streak on the line and a chance at a conference championship, the NIU men’s rugby team defeated the University of Illinois-Chicago 43-7.

The victory gave the Huskies their eighth straight home win dating back to last season. It also gives the team a shot at the conference crown as UIC was its last contending opponent.

Dan Tammer, Ryan Dertinger, “FoFo” Jaquez and Eric Burke were the outstanding players for the Huskies against UIC.

“We really played well as a team,” said NIU men’s rugby president Al Collins. “We played the way we have been playing­ – really hard and aggressive.”

The Huskies will travel to DePaul Saturday for a 1 p.m. match.

Collins said he expects a win over the Blue Demons, who were 0-2 entering last Saturday’s game. His only concern is getting players to the away match.

“This is the easier part of our schedule, but we’re playing away which makes it a little harder,” Collins said.

If the Huskies can finish out versus DePaul and the University of Chicago, they will be in prime position to make the playoffs. Collins said the team should know in a few weeks about its playoff standing, along with the playoff location.

All comments are moderated before being published. We will not edit your comments, but we also will not approve those that are abusive, off-topic, attack another poster or contain information we know to be libelous or false.

During peak weekday viewing times, most comments will be reviewed within six hours. For more detailed information, click here.

After submitting your comment, check below for a confirmation message.

• Your name:
• Enter text from image:
  

• Your comment:

* 300-character count. HTML formatting will not display.