When it comes to soccer, there are two different types of goals.

The goals that one sets for themselves and the goals that one can stick in the back of the net.

Both were achieved in the NIU men’s soccer team’s 3-0 win over Bowling Green on Saturday. With the victory, the Huskies clinched a spot in the four-team MAC Tournament.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever gone from all seven teams making it down to four,” said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. “To be honest, it might be more of a relief. It’s one of the smaller, shorter, medium term goals that are on the way to the larger goals, which is getting back to the NCAA tournament.”

Since starting the season 5-5-1, NIU (10-6-1, 3-2-0) is 5-1-0 in its last six matches and has defeated the Falcons in four straight meetings.

Senior midfielder Luis De La Cerda opened up the scoring in the 20th minute with his sixth goal of the season.

After a late and heroic game winner against Wisconsin, junior forward Juan Hoyos added two more in the 32nd and 78th minutes to bring his season total up to five.

Freshman keeper Jordan Godsey added seven more saves to his season total of 67 and his seventh shutout of the year.

“I think we have a lot of guys that are in pretty good form now,” Luzzi said. “I think we’re at a pretty good place in terms of internal competition that we have within the team. There are quite a few spots that there’s not a guaranteed starting spot for anybody and I think it’s keeping guys on their toes.”

BGSU’s (2-11-3, 1-3-1) senior midfielder Hunter Van Houten was the Falcon’s biggest offensive threat with three shots, all being on goal.

Compared to last week’s game in Florida with the temperature in the ‘90s, Saturday’s match came 180 degrees with non-desirable weather.

“It was not the easiest conditions,” Luzzi said. “The field was pretty soft and there was a pretty strong wind, maybe 30 or 35 miles per hour. [Those] weren’t conditions we’re used to playing in so I thought our guys did pretty well to deal with that stuff. At the end of the day, it wasn’t one of our better games, but we were very opportunistic and we did what we had to do to get a result.”

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