Heat could not stop the Huskies from grabbing another MAC victory.

With temperature in the 90s, the NIU men’s soccer team defeated Florida Atlantic 3-1 on Sunday in Boca Raton, Fla. to even its conference record at 2-2-0.

“I thought we dealt ok with the conditions,” said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. “To be fair to the guys, it was hot. It may have been 90 degrees outside humid. We haven’t played in that heat in a month or maybe more.”

The Huskies (8-6-1, 2-2-0 MAC) have now won three of their last four matches. NIU out-shot the Owls 13-4 with a 7-3 shots on goal advantage.

“Overall, I thought our guys did pretty well in the first half, but in the second half, we should have done better,” Luzzi said. “They actually had us on our heels a little bit more than I would have liked. Ultimately they found a way to grind out the win.”

The Huskies opened up the scoring early with a Ben Thomas goal in the seventh minute. The senior forward beat the keeper into the left corner after senior midfielder Luis De La Cerda found him behind the defense.

NIU finished the first half strong with two goals in the final 10 minutes.

Junior forward Juan Hoyos and senior defender Josh Karsten completed the Huskie scoring with goals in the 35th and 42nd minutes.

FAU (4-8-2, 0-4-0 MAC) put in its lone goal in the 71st minute when sophomore forward Darnell King snuck behind the defense to beat freshman keeper Jordan Godsey.

With three games left in the regular season, NIU finds itself in fourth in the MAC, which would be good enough for the final spot in the conference tournament.

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