For the second consecutive year, all hopes of a national championship for the NIU soccer team were shattered by the NCAA selection committee.

The Huskies failed to generate enough support among those selecting the 28 teams on Monday, despite their 13-5-2 record, which was better than four other teams chosen to compete in the Eastern-region dominated field.

“I’m disappointed,” NIU head coach Willy Roy said. “When you get so close, you want to not only smell success, but taste success also.”

Of the 28 teams selected, only seven of them were categorized as at-large picks. The invitees were narrowed to seven after the automatic bids were given and the top two schools from each region were given a bid, according to Richard Lowe, a selection committee member from North Texas University.

“We were trying to squeeze NIU in,” Lowe said. “They did well against the Great Lakes region teams, but they didn’t have enough wins in the Midwest.”

Saint Louis University and Southern Methodist University ended up being the top two selections from NIU’s region, the Midwest. Illinois State University, a team that defeated the Huskies (4-1), made it as the third representative from the Midwest. Speculation suggests a NIU win over the Redbirds may have made the difference.

“As it turns out,” Roy said, “that (ISU) game was a key game. I think if we would have eliminated any combination of two losses, it would’ve been a different story.”

NIU lost to both the Billikens of SLU (3-0) and the Redbirds on foreign territory. The Huskies did not face SMU this season. Committee Chairperson Marie Tuite also acknowledged the point that NIU hadn’t beaten any of the teams to get an invitation.

“They (NIU) did draw considerable attention from the committee,” Tuite said. “But they had not beaten any of the teams to get in the championships.”

The only other two teams to get in the tournament that NIU had the opportunity to play were Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Both of those schools belong to the Great Lakes region. Perhaps the Huskies’ chances would’ve been increased had they been part of the Great Lakes region. NIU tied the Hoosiers (No. 2) and UW-M. The other team to get a bid from the Great Lakes was Evansville, the No. 1 team in the nation.

Controversy arises over the common opponent clause also. The Huskies beat Quincy, 1-0, away from DeKalb and Quincy beat Adelphi University, a 13-5-1 team, to get a bid. NIU knocked off the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which turned around and beat Seton Hall, an 11-7-2 team to make it in the tournament.

To add a little more insult, the committee chose the University of Virginia, a team that won only 10 of its 21 contests.

One of the bigger factors in determining the picks was the strength of schedule. The committee downplayed NIU’s schedule, in large part because of a weak conference. Although NIU won the Mid-Continent Conference Championship, being associated with the Mid-Continent may have hindered the Huskies chances.

Struggling teams like Valparaiso and the University of Illinois-Chicago, with partly-funded programs, bring NIU’s strength of schedule down.

“Valpo, Bradley and UIC hurt us,” Roy said. “It’s going to be tough to play schools trying to develop. We might have to stay away from schools like that.”

Last season, the Huskies compiled a 14-4-2 record and failed to get invited to the tournament. Roy feels that the only positive results stemming from the snubbings may be NIU establishing a name for themselves.

“We seem to be in the pool of rejected teams,” Roy said. “Maybe if our name comes up again next year, they (the committee members) will remember us.”