With visions of a post-season berth on the line, the NIU soccer team will be parading in Billiken country tonight.

The Huskies travel to Saint Louis University to face the 11th-ranked Billikens in what could be the biggest game of the season for NIU.

“This is like the Indiana game,” NIU coach Willy Roy said. “It has to be the biggest game. They’re ranked, so we have nothing to lose.”

Overall, Saint Louis boasts a 13-3-2 record and is coming off a three-game stretch in which they finished at the .500 mark (1-1-1). Yet the Billikens have never lost to the Huskies in seven attempts; a notion that Roy finds irrelevant.

“We are still an up-and-coming program,” Roy said. “I think we’re going to have an excellent game over there.”

Roy said he’ll be going with a five-man backfield, three in the middle and two forwards up front. As for a game plan, the fourth year coach says the Huskies won’t alter anything. The only exception will be for defender Dusty Showers. Showers will have the task of marking the Billikens’ leading scorer, freshman Brian McBride.

“Dusty will be checking McBride, just like Tony (Adolfs) did against Ken Snow of Indiana,” Roy said. “Other than that, we’re just going to go after them. We have nothing to hide.”

The Huskies will be without the services of Per Ekholdt and Mark Siegwald. Ekholdt will not be making the trip due to an exam commitment and Siegwald will be tending to a cold.

“Maybe that’s a blessing in disguise,” Roy said, “because they’ll be rested for the Wisconsin-Green Bay game on Sunday.”

Sunday at 1 p.m., the Huskies will be shooting for the Mid-Continent Conference Championship. NIU is currently 5-1-0 in the Mid-Continent and a win over the Phoenix would give the Huskies the edge in any potential tiebreakers. (With a win, Akron University will also be 6-1-0, but the Huskies knocked off the Zips 1-0 in overtime earlier this season.)

“Even if we come back from Saint Louis with 12 bloody noses,” Roy said, “we have to be very, very focused on Sunday. Because for them (UW-GB), a win over NIU will be a great shot in the arm. Everything is in our own hands and we have to do our own thing.”