The NIU wrestling team (1-7) will try to end a seven-match losing streak this weekend and start its second half of the season on the right foot.

The Huskies face Chicago State University and Drake University Friday as part of the Chicago State University Triangular and travel to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Saturday.

A hard week of practicing might be what the Huskies need to get over the hump. The Huskies have been practicing days and nights all this week in order to prepare themselves for a very crucial second half of the season. And the extra conditioning hopefully will pay off.

“It’s not that they’re out of shape,” Assistant Coach Phil Rembert said. “Over break they did doubles, so we’re in pretty good shape. What we have to do as a team is face defeat, accept it, then make ourselves better prior to that defeat. That’s what we are trying to prepare these guys for this week.”

With the second half of the season set to begin, NIU still has a chance to redeem itself. An arduous road schedule may have contributed to the Huskie woes in the first half of the season.

However, now the Huskies must fine tune themselves for the end of the season. “Everyone knows what it’s like to wrestle good competition,” Rembert said. “It’s the work ethics that you have to build up to beat that competition,” he added.

What the Huskies must also do, is start wrestling with some consistency. “I just don’t know which team will show up for us,” head coach Ed Vatch said. “Last week we went down to the wire with two good teams in Illinois and Purdue, then the next day we wrestled SIU-Edwardsville and struggled.”

“I think we need a good weekend with our team, and win the matches we are capable of winning,” Rembert said. “If we go in there and wrestle with the right attitude, we’ll do fine. This is something we need over the weekend to get us out of this slump.”