NIU’s soccer team took to the indoor turf this past weekend as coach Willy Roy began looking forward to next season.

Roy’s boys won the 16-team tournament at Soccer Enterprises, Inc. in Palatine that marked the start of a six-week spring session, during which the NCAA allows teams to compete as a full unit. SportsVision taped Sunday’s semi-finals and finals for broadcast on April 2 at 6 p.m.

The Huskies took first place honors by coming from behind to beat National College (Chicago) 3-1. Sophomore Jim Corno tied the game at 1-1 and freshman Willy Roy Jr. got the eventual game-winner.

NIU notched five victories before reaching the finals, including two wins over Wisconsin-Parkside. The Huskies avenged the NIU men’s basketball team’s embarassing loss to UWP Jan. 28 by beating the Rangers 4-3 in the semi-finals and 2-0 during opening-round action Saturday.

NIU’s other three wins came Saturday against DePaul and Bradley and Sunday against UIC in the quarter-finals. But it was the semi-final win over Parkside that had everyone talking. In a poorly-refereed match that had players and coaches from both teams berating the officials, the Huskies held a 4-2 advantage midway through the fourth quarter. NIU built its lead on goals by Vincent Matthews, Corno, Roy and Jim Pisani. But with 5:41 to go, Pisani became the center of attention.

After a brief skirmish featuring Pisani, NIU goalie Tim Spiegel and a swarm of players from both teams, Pisani was given a yellow card and Spiegel was given a chance to stop a penalty kick. He couldn’t.

UWP applied nearly constant pressure for several minutes after that goal, but the Huskies managed to hold off the Ranger attack. A two-minute penalty on the UWP goalie with 2:31 left gave NIU a one-man advantage and control of the ball for much of that time.

“It was like a hockey game,” NIU junior John O’Keefe said of the rugged semi-final match. A fortunate survivor of the rough play was NIU senior Barry Garofolo, who escaped serious injury when he was tripped into the boards.

The Huskies used several seniors in the tournament who will not be with the team next season. Some of their potential replacements wll arrive at NIU Saturday, Feb. 27, when coach Roy treats several high school recruits to a luncheon. They also will be invited to attend a 2 p.m. NIU women’s basketball game. Roy said he feels good about the group that will visit DeKalb in two weeks.

“This is the best recruiting year Northern could possibly have,” the NIU coach said. “It’s my feeling NIU could be a top soccer program.”

It will have to be if the Huskies expect to beat their Sept. 14 opponent, nationally-ranked Indiana. SportsVision will be in Bloomington to cover that game as well.

Among the crop of high school stars expected to be playing in DeKalb next season are Roy’s twin sons Markus and Karsten. Goalkeeper Markus, named to the Parade All-America team Sunday, recently played in the Soviet Union as part of the U.S. under-20 team.