Sports

Published on Friday, September 21, 2007

Oregon State and Gonzaga await the NIU soccer team
By RYAN HAMMERSMITH

The upcoming road trip for men’s soccer could send the team in one of two directions.

If they’re not careful, it’s possible that they could lose both matches this weekend against two quality opponents in Oregon State and Gonzaga, further dropping the Huskies into a whirlwind and continuing their stretch of rough play.

Or they could go on the road and get wins against the Beavers and Bulldogs which would drastically boost their confidence after a rough home opening weekend.

Either way, the Huskies know this weekend road trip will be an important one to bounce back on.

“Coming off the Butler match, that’s just a horrible way to lose. We had ‘em,” sophomore forward Ben Thomas said. “We’re looking to get out there and make sure we turn around our season right now.”

“We outplayed both teams this [past] weekend. We just had mental lapses in overtime and gave up an unlucky goal.”

The one thing the Huskies certainly have going for them is their confidence.

Playing a tough non-conference schedule definitely has them believing it’s only a matter of time before they get back on track.

“Both these teams are high quality teams,” Thomas said. “We’re expecting for it to be a fight when we get over there. We’re gonna bring it no matter what and hopefully get two victories and prove that we can play with anybody.”

Coach Steve Simmons downplayed the Huskies’ 0-1-1 record last weekend.

“The film revealed a lot more positives out of both games. I think it’s fine,” he said. “We do need to tighten up on a few details. But this weekend you’ll see two teams, on a result standpoint, trying to turn the ship.”

Simmons said his team is going to have its hands full this weekend.

“Oregon State, obviously, is a PAC-10 team,” he said. “Gonzaga, right now, is doing very well. They’re in the top-20, they’ve got 11 or 12 seniors. They’re awfully good this year. They’ll both be very good matches.”

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