The scoring drought ended for the NIU soccer team yesterday as the Huskies opened the flood gates on Illinois State for a 3-1 victory at Huskie Soccer Field.

The Huskies, 1-1-1, gained revenge for last year’s 4-1 loss and erased some doubts about their offense.

“I’ve been through droughts myself where you wonder if you’re ever going to score any goals again,” said NIU coach Willy Roy. “But it’s something you have to reinforce in a positive manner, because if you have enough opportunities, you are going to score goals.”

The Huskies took advantage of their opportunities yesterday. Newcomer Jim Hall, a midfielder, netted a cross-pass from John Lechner, who had two assists in the match, for the first goal with just 3:03 left in the first half.

“We didn’t have a lot of midfield support until today,” John Lechner said. “Before the game, I just told them to follow me up.”

Roy couldn’t help admiring Lechner’s pass to Hall. “It was a beautiful pass,” Roy said. “It was basically the same pass Mirko Castillo made to Pato Margetic on Sunday.”

The Redbirds tied the match in the second half on a penalty kick after a hand ball call in the box. Richard Brolley pushed the shot past goalie Markus Roy, twice, to tie the match with 33:45 left to go. The first goal was disallowed because ISU’s Steve Macias crossed the box before the kick was made.

“When I take penalty kicks, I usually look at their eyes,” Markus said. “(Bolley) didn’t even look at me. He had his head down the whole time, then he kicked it quickly.”

The Huskies raised their intensity after the Redbird’s tying goal.

“We really got pumped up for the last 20 minutes,” said sweeper Karsten Roy, who watched last year’s match from the stands. “This was our last chance to get back at them.”

NIU pumped in two goals in the last 20 minutes. Freshman defender Jay Konrad provided the game-winning header off a corner kick with Lechner getting his second assist with 16:59 left.

“Most of the time I take corner kicks I aim for Jay and Derek Niepomnik because they have the highest leaps on the team,” Lechner said.

“The goal from the corner kick was not me, it was the server,” Konrad said. “John’s been great at serving the ball lately.”

The pressure on Lechner has eased after his performance. “I felt a lot more comfortable up front,” Lechner said, “but I still feel a need to score a goal.”

Niepomnik scored NIU’s final goal with the assist by Dave Weichman with 9:06 remaining.