Northern Illinois Huskies men's soccer

The Northern Illinois Huskies men's soccer team is the college soccer team that represents Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. The school's team competed in NIU's full-time home of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) through the 2022 season, after which the conference stopped sponsoring men's soccer.^[2] NIU moved that sport to the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) effective with the 2023 season, joining fellow MAC members Bowling Green and Western Michigan in this move.^[3] NIU men's soccer started playing in 1962 and has appeared in the NCAA Tournament four times (1973, 2006, 2011, 2021). The Huskies are coached by Ryan Swan.

Northern Illinois Huskies men's soccer
Founded	1962
University	Northern Illinois University
Head coach	Ryan Swan (6th season)
Conference	MVC
Location	DeKalb, Illinois
Stadium	NIU Soccer Complex (Capacity: 1,500)
Nickname	Huskies
Colors	Cardinal and black^[1]
Home Away
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
1973
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
1973, 2006, 2011, 2021
NCAA Tournament appearances
1973, 2006, 2011, 2021
Conference Tournament championships
1989 (BCSC) 2006, 2011, 2021 (MAC)
Conference Regular Season championships
1984 (MMC) 1990 (Mid-Con) 2006, 2021 (MAC)

Season-by-season records

Statistics overview

Season	Coach	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Bob Kahler (Independent) (1962–1962)
1962	Bob Kahler	0–5
Bob Kahler:		0–5
William Healey (Independent) (1963–1968)
1963	William Healey	3–4
1964	William Healey	3–4
1965	William Healey	0–5
1966	William Healey	2–3
1967	William Healey	6–1
1968	William Healey	8–1
William Healey:		22–18
Dave Bucher (Independent) (1969–1979)
1969	Dave Bucher	8–1
1970	Dave Bucher	6–3–2
1971	Dave Bucher	7–2–1
1972	Dave Bucher	3–5–2
1973	Dave Bucher	7–2–2			NCAA Round of 16
1974	Dave Bucher	5–2–3
1975	Dave Bucher	6–5
1976	Dave Bucher	7–3–2
1977	Dave Bucher	7–4
1978	Dave Bucher	7–2–3
1979	Dave Bucher	6–7–1
Dave Bucher:		69–36–16
John LeWang (Independent) (1980–1980)
1980	John LeWang	5–7–2
John LeWang:		5–7–2
Jerry Collins (Midwest Metro) (1981–1986)
1981	Jerry Collins	4–9–2	1–2	3rd
1982	Jerry Collins	7–9–1	3–1–1	T–2nd
1983	Jerry Collins	8–7–2	4–1	2nd
1984	Jerry Collins	13–5–1	5–0	1st
1985	Jerry Collins	8–10–2	3–1	2nd
1986	Jerry Collins	6–12–1	1–3–1	T–5th
Jerry Collins:		45–52–9	17–7–2
Willy Roy (Big Central) (1987–1989)
1987	Willy Roy	6–10–2	1–3	5th
1988	Willy Roy	7–10–1	0–6	7th
1989	Willy Roy	14–4–2	4–2	3rd
Willy Roy (Mid-Con) (1990–1993)
1990	Willy Roy	13–5–2	6–1	1st
1991	Willy Roy	11–5–3	5–2–1	3rd
1992	Willy Roy	6–9–2	3–3–1	4th
1993	Willy Roy	11–6–2	4–2–2	4th
Willy Roy (MCC) (1994–1996)
1994	Willy Roy	10–7–1	5–3–1	3rd
1995	Willy Roy	7–10–2	3–5	6th
1996	Willy Roy	8–9–1	3–4–1	4th
Willy Roy (MAC) (1997–2002)
1997	Willy Roy	10–9–1	2–4–1	6th
1998	Willy Roy	12–4–1	5–3	3rd
1999	Willy Roy	12–9	3–4	T–5th
2000	Willy Roy	7–9	3–3	5th
2001	Willy Roy	4–12–1	1–5	7th
2002	Willy Roy	4–13–1	2–4	6th
Willy Roy:		142–131–22	50–54–7
Steve Simmons (MAC) (2003–2008)
2003	Steve Simmons	3–12–2	2–4	5th
2004	Steve Simmons	12–7	4–2	T–2nd
2005	Steve Simmons	11–6–2	4–2	2nd
2006	Steve Simmons	15–6–1	4–1	1st	NCAA Round of 32
2007	Steve Simmons	7–9–4	1–3–1	5th
2008	Steve Simmons	11–6–4	4–1–1	2nd
Steve Simmons:		59–47–13	19–13–2
Eric Luzzi (MAC) (2009–2016)
2009	Eric Luzzi	10–8–1	3–3	4th
2010	Eric Luzzi	9–6–2	2–4	5th
2011	Eric Luzzi	15–6	4–1	2nd	NCAA Round of 32
2012	Eric Luzzi	7–10–3	4–2–1	T–2nd
2013	Eric Luzzi	4–13–1	0–5–1	7th
2014	Eric Luzzi	3–9–5	0–4–1	6th
2015	Eric Luzzi	7–7–1	1–3–1	5th
2016	Eric Luzzi	2–10–4	1–3–1	5th
Eric Luzzi:		57–69–17	15–25–5
Ryan Swan (MAC) (2017–present)
2017	Ryan Swan	3–11-1	0-4-1	6th
2018	Ryan Swan	8–9-1	1-4-0	6th
2019	Ryan Swan	7–10-1	2-3-0	T-4th
2020-21	Ryan Swan	5–8-1	4-6-0	5th
2021	Ryan Swan	15–3-2	4-0-2	1st	NCAA Round of 32
2022	Ryan Swan	5–8-4	2-5-1	4th
Ryan Swan:		1–0
Total:		400–365–79
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

• Source: NIU Men's Soccer Record Book^[4]

NCAA tournament

The Huskies have appeared in four NCAA Tournaments. Their combined record is 3–4.^[4]

Year	Round	Opponent	Result	NIU Head Coach
1973	Round of 16	SIU Edwardsville	L 3–0	Dave Bucher
2006	First round Second Round	Loyola Chicago (7) Indiana	W 1–0 (OT) L 1–0	Steve Simmons
2011	First round Second Round	Western Illinois (2) Creighton	W 3–0 L 3–0	Eric Luzzi
2021	First round Second Round	Oaklnd Pittsburgh(5)	W 2–1 L 5–2	Ryan Swan

LeWang Cup

Since 1981, the winner of the annual match between NIU and UW-Milwaukee claims the John LeWang Memorial Cup. The trophy is named in honor of former NIU coach John LeWang, who was killed in a car accident prior to the 1981 season. LeWang came to NIU as head coach in 1980 following his time as an assistant at UW-Milwaukee and died in a car accident after his first season leading the Huskies.^[5]

Match results

NIU victories

Milwaukee victories

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 1981 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 3–1 2 1982 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 4–3 3 1983 DeKalb, IL NIU 3–2 4 1984 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 4–2 5 1985 DeKalb, IL NIU 3–1 6 1986 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 4–1 7 1987 DeKalb, IL NIU 1–0 8 1988 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 2–1 9 1989 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 2–1 10 1990 DeKalb, IL Tie 2–2 11 1991 Milwaukee, WI NIU 5–1 12 1992 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 3–0 13 1993 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 3–1 14 1994 DeKalb, IL NIU 3–2 15 1995 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 2–1 16 1996 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 1–0 17 1997 Milwaukee, WI NIU 3–2 18 1998 DeKalb, IL NIU 2–0 19 1999 Milwaukee, WI NIU 3–1 20 2000 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 4–2 21 2001 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 3–0 No. Date Location Winner Score 22 2002 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 1–0 23 2003 Madison, WI Milwaukee 2–0 24 2004 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 1–0 25 2005 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 1–0 26 2006 Milwaukee, WI NIU 1–0 27 2007 DeKalb, IL NIU 1–0 28 2008 Milwaukee, WI Tie 2–2 29 2009 DeKalb, IL NIU 5–1 30 2010 Milwaukee, WI NIU 5–1 31 2011 Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee 1–0 32 2012 Evanston, IL Milwaukee 1–0 33 2013 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 1–0 34 2014 Milwaukee, WI Tie 2–2 35 2015 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 2–1 36 2016 Milwaukee, WI NIU 2–1 37 2017 DeKalb, IL Milwaukee 1–0 38 2018 Milwaukee, WI NIU 2–1 39 2019 DeKalb, IL NIU 1–0 40 2021 Milwaukee, WI NIU 4–0 41 2022 DeKalb, IL NIU 3–2 Series: Milwaukee leads 21–17–3

Achievements

• Mid-American Conference Tournament:
  • Winners (3): 2006, 2011, 2021
  • Runners-up (3): 1999, 2008, 2012
• Mid-American Conference Regular Season:
  • Winners (2): 2006, 2021
  • Runners-up (5): 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012
• Mid-Continent Conference Regular Season:
  • Winners (1): 1990
• Big Central Soccer Conference Tournament:
  • Winners (1): 1989
• Midwest Metropolitan Conference Regular Season:
  • Winners (1): 1984
  • Runners-up (3): 1982, 1983, 1985

Honors

All-Americans

NIU men's soccer has had seven players named to All-America teams, including two NCAA First-Team All-Americans.^[4]

Year	Player	Position	Team
1970	Allan Zelechowski	Sweeper	Honorable Mention
1971	Edward Kositzki	Forward	Honorable Mention
1974	Peter Mannos	Goalkeeper	First-Team
1975	Peter Mannos	Goalkeeper	First-Team
1975	Paul Wenson	Midfielder	Second-Team
1976	Mike Strahler	Defender	Honorable Mention
1984	Johan Bergseth	Forward	Third-Team

Academic All-Americans

NIU men's soccer has had a combined 13 players named to CoSIDA and NSCAA Academic All-America teams, including four First-Team Academic All-Americans.^[4]

Year	Player	Position	Organization	Team
1989	Markus Roy	Goalkeeper	NSCAA	Honorable Mention
1990	Markus Roy	Goalkeeper	NSCAA	First-Team
1991	Markus Roy	Goalkeeper	NSCAA	First-Team
1996	Sigurd Slaastad	Midfielder	CoSIDA	Second-Team
1997	Sigurd Slaastad	Midfielder	CoSIDA	Second-Team
1998	Jeff Stojak	Midfielder	CoSIDA	Second-Team
1999	Jeff Stojak	Midfielder	CoSIDA	First-Team
2000	Peter Agrimson	Defender	NSCAA	Second-Team
2002	Peter Agrimson	Defender	NSCAA	Second-Team
2003	Andy Champion	Defender	CoSIDA	Second-Team
2008	Kyle Knotek	Midfielder	CoSIDA	Second-Team
2010	Kyle Knotek	Midfielder	CoSIDA	First-Team
2014	Dusty Page	Defender	CoSIDA	Second-Team

Freshman All-Americans

NIU men's soccer has had two players named to College Soccer News All-Freshman teams.^[6]

Year	Player	Position	Team
2004	Curt Zastrow	Forward	Second-Team
2008	Brad Horton	Midfielder	Second-Team

Coaches of the Year

NIU men's soccer has had three head coaches named Coach of the Year by the conference.^[4]

Year	Head Coach	Conference
1990	Willy Roy	Mid-Continent
2004	Steve Simmons	MAC
2006	Steve Simmons	MAC

References

1. "NIU Athletic Marks Standards Guide" (PDF). July 12, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
2. "MAC to Suspend Sponsoring Men's Soccer Following 2022 Season" (Press release). Mid-American Conference. November 11, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
3. "Missouri Valley Conference To Expand in Men's Soccer for 2023" (Press release). Missouri Valley Conference. November 11, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
4. "NIU Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF).
5. Huskies Travel to Milwaukee for Lewang Cup Showdown
6. College Soccer News All-Freshman Team Archives

External links

• Official website