BLOOMINGTON-Illinois State took full advantage of its opportunities to beat the NIU soccer team 4-1 in a rain-slicked field in Bloomington Sunday.

In NIU’s second straight loss, ISU cashed in on four of its eight goal scoring opportunities while NIU only cashed in one of 12. The loss drops the Huskies’ record to 7-4-1. ISU moves up to 7-3.

NIU struck first in the game when Frank Sparacino chipped in a pass from James Ehrlich, who broke open in the middle and made the goalie charge towards him. Ehrlich then kicked the ball to his left and Sparacino chipped it in 20:18 into the game.

The Redbirds tied the game with just a minute left in the half. ISU midfielder Jan Ruehlicke beat NIU befender Walid Fikri to the goal and made a perfect centering pass to Milo Iniguez who lifted the ball over a fallen goalie, Markus Roy.

ISU scored its next goal 51:05 into the match. Markus Roy left the box to go after a loose ball, but the Redbird’s Klaus Filbry beat him to the ball. Markus Roy slipped on the wet field and Filbry thumped the ball between two Huskies.

Although disappointed with the loss, coach Willy Roy was happy with the efforts his team put on the field.

“Sure, I’m disappointed with the loss, but I felt that in the second half we created a lot of easy scoring opportunities. We couldn’t cash them in, but our guys fought hard,” Roy said.

The Huskies took the loss in stride. Roy said the loss was not emotional-it was encouraging.

“In the second half we played better than we have in our previous four or five games. I liked what I saw offensively and I think it’s something we can build on in practice. If we play like we did in the second half the rest of the year, we’ll be fine,” Roy said.

Roy liked the offensive performance, but he described his defense as “swiss cheese”. The Huskies played without their key marksman Karsten Roy, who served his one game suspension for collecting five yellow cards. The defense allowed wide open shots that the Redbirds took advantage of. “It was miscommunication,” teamcaptain and defender Tony Adolfs said. “We didn’t mark tight enough when we should have, and we left too many holes. Then they just put the ball right where it had to be to go in.”

While the Redbirds shot somehow found the NIU net, the Huskies missed several open nets. With the score 2-1 and 27:30 remaining in the game, NIU midfielder John Lechner stole the ball in the ISU goal. He passed the ball to Ehrlich who missed the 10-yarder far right.

After another ISU goal, NIU’s Todd Moore muscled through the middle of the ISU defense. ISU goalie Allan Adams charged, dove and missed. So did Moore, wide right.

The Huskies next travel to Quincy College and Western Illinois before returning home to take on national power Indiana on Oct. 17.