NIU men’s soccer (2-9, 0-3 MVC) suffered its worst loss of the season at the hands of the Missouri State University Bears (7-2-1, 3-0-1 MVC), in a 7-0 defeat.
In the 10th minute of the match, after coming out of the box and colliding with Bears senior forward Jesus Barea, NIU sophomore goalkeeper Atahan Arslan was shown a red card. He was ejected from the match, leaving the Huskies down to 10 men for the remainder of the match. Redshirt freshman Caleb Pearson replaced Arslan as the goalkeeper for the Huskies.
NIU men’s soccer head coach Ryan Swan reflected on how the red card changed the match.
“Some things are just out of your control,” Swan said. “That call went against us so early on, obviously influenced the game. At the same time, they scored two from corner kicks, so we just defended really poorly. Having a goalkeeper sent off, you’re looking for everyone else to step up, have a strong defensive performance. It’s really disappointing. It’s hard. This is going to be a hard rest of the night and a hard ride home tomorrow. We have to try and figure ourselves out for next week, which will be another tough one.”
Minutes after the switch at goalkeeper, the Bears’ first goal found the back of the net. The goal was credited to the Missouri State team after bouncing into the goal off the back of an NIU defender.
The lone shot for the Huskies came in the 13th minute when senior forward Zachariah Thomas sent the ball just wide of the goal.
The next goal for the Bears came in the 18th minute, when senior forward Fumiya Shiraishi doubled the lead for Missouri State.
In the 22nd minute, Bears senior forward Sergio Del Castillo found the back of the net off a corner kick by sophomore midfielder Tyler Caton to put the Bears up 3-0.
Immediately after the half, Missouri State increased its lead to 4 goals, after freshman midfielder Jared Harlock found a 47th minute goal.
After the fourth goal, the Huskies managed to hold off the Bears until the final 10 minutes of the match.
In the 83rd minute, redshirt senior forward James Jennings sent the ball soaring past Pearson into the net.
Shiraishi found his second of the night in the 85th minute, and one minute later, Jennings scored again to put the final stamp on the 7-0 loss for the Huskies.
NIU was outshot 20–1 in its fourth shutout of the season, with the Bears creating 7 shots on goal.
“You get a player sent off 10 minutes into the game, it’s really difficult to create,” Swan said. “I think our focus became on the defensive side. We were trying to focus on ball retention, but that evaded us a little bit. When we’re working so hard to try and cover that space that we’ve given up with the red card, I think the guys just didn’t quite have the legs to get up and try to mount a serious attack. We forced 2 corner kicks, but again the red card ten minutes into the game just dramatically changes what we’re able to do.”
UP NEXT
The Huskies look to snap a four-match losing streak at 3 p.m. Saturday against the No. 11 ranked Western Michigan University Broncos at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex in DeKalb. Live stats will be updated on SideArm Stats.
