Webster’s dictionary defines a tie as “an equality in number.” NIU soccer coach Willy Roy sees a tie as not a win.

“I was not satisfied,” Roy said. “I’m only satisfied when we win.”

The Huskies went head to head with DePaul yesterday in Chicago only to come up with a 0-0 tie after regulation play and overtime.

Once again, NIU played one player short during the closing minutes of the game when freshman John Kelly was issued a red card after tripping a DePaul player.

Last Saturday in Milwaukee, Huskie Jim Pisani was issued a questionable red card in the 2-1 loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

In both cases the players were ejected from the game putting the Huskie team on the defense.

Kelly’s situation was, indeed, a physical foul, but the trip was against a player away from the ball with no chance to score. The need for the red card was critiqued by Roy.

“He (Kelly) wasn’t deserving of the red card. “The foul had no major bearing on the play,” Roy said.

Because the game did not have an outright winner, the statistics have to tell the story. In the case of the tie game, NIU was the better team.

The Blue Demons did not have a legitimate shot on goal in the entire game. The Huskies, on the other hand, had a total of eight shots on goal with two of them coming in the overtime period.

Overall shots, which is any shot taken with the hope of finding the goal, for NIU was 19. DePaul managed only four.

However, the only statistic that mattered when the game was over was the score. On paper, NIU won. In the books the game goes down as a loss.

Coach Roy beleived his team played well despite the tie.

“We controlled the game, and the opportunities were there. We just weren’t sharp enough—no killer instinct on offense,” Roy said.

If coach Roy had to cite a positive aspect, it was the defense. The likes of Frank Sparacino, Tony Adolfs, Karsten Roy and Markus Roy were all mentioned by coach Roy. Also, co-captain Preben Halle received first-half praise, but Halle’s second-half play was less than desireable to coach Roy.

NIU goalie Markus Roy maintained his 1.50 goals against average by not allowing a goal and not receiving a shot on goal. DePaul’s goalie, Rich Horwath, did not allow goal, but did save eight Huskie shots—which will improve his GAA.

Coach Roy was not overly impressed by the Blue Demon goalie. However, he did give Horwath the deserved recognition.

“We made him look good, but he seemed to handle us well,” Roy admitted.

With the tie, the Huskie record changes to 3-5-1 overall, while the DePaul slate goes to 2-5-1. In the Big Central Soccer Conference, NIU remains 0-4-0 awaiting the next conference foe.

Anyone interested in watching the 0-0 tie can tune into SportsVision tonight at 8 p.m. for the tape-delay cablecast.

The NIU Huskies will host the Illinois Governor’s Cup Tournament this weekend at Huskie Stadium. Teams featured in the Cup are Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Eastern Illinois, NIU and defending champion Western Illinois. The first game of the tournament will feature WIU against NIU at 6 p.m. The late game will be EIU taking on SIU-E.