A touchdown and an extra-point wouldn’t have been enough for the Southwest Missouri State soccer team to overcome the 7-0 lead that the Huskies built Sunday.

The game featured a taste of out with the old and in with the new, as far as the Mid-Continent Conference is concerned. SMSU is a former member of the conference, while NIU is competing in its first season as part of the Mid-Continent. And the Huskies (10-4-2, 4-1-0) justified the conference alteration.

With brisk temperatures prevalent at Huskie Soccer Field, the Huskies started out cold. NIU did manage to tally at the 5:15 mark on a Karsten Roy 23-yarder with the assist going to Willy Roy Jr.

SMSU knocked on the door at the 16:25 mark. A Bears forward slipped under the Huskie defense and dribbled into a one-on-one situation with NIU goalkeeper Markus Roy. Roy, who recorded his seventh blanking of the year, stretched far left and batted the attempt away.

NIU put up one more score before the end of the half on a John Lechner head-in from five yards out.

“We didn’t start off all that well,” NIU head coach Willy Roy said. “But then suddenly the kids got motivated a little bit and the ball started to move a little bit.”

The Huskies poured it on with five, second-half goals.

Senior Frank Sparacino started the scoring barrage with his second score of the season at the 48:23 mark. Once again, Roy Jr. notched the feed. The left-footed shot gave NIU a 3-0 lead, which would’ve satisfied Coach Roy.

“When it was 3-0, I said to myself, ‘boy it’s a good result against this team,'” Roy said. “And at the end, the kids just kept going and I used the whole bench—whoever came in did a good job.”

Roy was especially pleased with the play of sophomore Craig Williams, who capitalized with his first points of the season on a goal and an assist.

“I thought Craig Williams coming in did a nice job,” Roy said. “Not so much his goal but the way he set up the second goal with John Kelly. Those are things we practice and it shows he’s listening.”

The tally was Kelly’s first of the season.

As it turns out, not only is NIU a newcomer to the Mid-Continent, but the Huskies are the leaders. Eastern Illinois University (3-2-1), fell out of the top spot with losses at Cleveland State and Akron this weekend.