NIU soccer coach Willy Roy has seemingly found a potent scoring weapon—the corner kick.

Before the season even began, Roy said his team would be tough on the corner kick play. And the Huskies have lived up to the expectations by scoring a goal in each of their last two matches on corner kicks.

And with the amount of corner kicks NIU has been receiving—NIU held a 10-2 corner kick advantage over Northwestern on Sunday—more goals are almost a certainty.

NIU never enjoyed the luxury of a corner threat last year. “Last year, all we could hope for was Willy (Roy) Jr. hitting somebody on the head and (the ball) deflecting into the net,” Roy joked. “We didn’t have anyone who could jump last year.”

With the addition of freshmen Jay Konrad and Derek Niepomnik, NIU’s corner kick plays have become potent. Senior John Lechner has taken over the responsibility of serving the corners. “Willy Jr. served the ball with much more velocity than John,” Roy said. “But that’s good because we have guys that can jump and head the ball into the net. A softer serve is much easier to head.”

Lechner has already padded his stats on the corner kick play with an assist to Konrad in the match against Illinois State. “I’m not worried about stats,” said Lechner, who has a goal and two assists. “All I worry about is putting the ball where it’s supposed to be.”

And the ball should be on the head of Konrad and Niepomnik. “All we have to do is make good runs,” Konrad said. “John always makes a good cross. As long as you make good runs, anybody can score.”

Konrad, a former basketball player at Naperville North High School, is primarily a defender on the soccer field but has proved he can score. “In college you have to go for it a lot harder,” Konrad said. “In high school there was usually only one defender going for the ball.”

Niepomnik hasn’t had the luck Konrad has enjoyed, but he has threatened on several occasions. “It’s very physical in the box on corner kicks,” Niepomnik said. “You get pushed around a lot.”