A Mid-Continent championship may not be as good as getting an NCAA bid, but NIU head soccer coach Willy Roy said anything can happen.

Although the Huskies have a 12-5-2 record, University of Saint Louis head coach Joe Clarke already ruled out NIU as a top-32 team in the nation after his squad shut out the Huskies 3-0.

“I don’t think they’ll get in now. They have too many losses in the region and they don’t have a win over a team that’s going to get in the playoffs,” he said.

“(Clarke) is not even on the selection committee. He doesn’t have a say in whether we get in or not. We played some good schools,” Roy said.

Most of the Huskies’ big wins were from the Great Lakes region. The Huskies tied the No. 10 national team, Indiana, which was No. 2 in the Great Lakes, and beat Akron, No. 4 in the Great Lakes.

“We played some excellent teams,” Roy said. “Akron, Cleveland State, most of them are ranked in the top five of their region. If we get in I would think we deserved it.”

For the second year in a row, the Huskies went into a new conference and won its title. Last year, NIU went into the Big Central Soccer Conference and won the title in a penalty kick shoot-out over Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the championship match of the conference tournament. Just last Sunday, NIU edged Wisconsin-Green Bay 2-1 to clinch the M-C season title.

“It’s the greatest thing that could happen to us this year, next to getting a bid,” NIU goalie Markus Roy said. “I think it’s going to be close. Last year we were 14-4-2, this year we have a little worse record, but our schedule was tougher. I think we have a better shot at it this year, but we still have to beat Northwestern on Saturday.”

Even if the Huskies don’t get an NCAA bid, their back-to-back conference titles show the Huskies can win anywhere. “Obviously we have something good going, but I think we’re going to be much better next year, because Coach (Roy) knows every one of us inside and out. Even if we lose Willy Jr., I think we’ll have an overall better team,” defender Mark Siegwald said.