The men’s soccer season came to an abrupt end Tuesday when the Huskies were knocked out of the Mid-American Conference Tournament by the Western Michigan University Broncos.

The Broncos won the game 3-1 and thoroughly outplayed NIU after conceding the first goal of the game. Despite as good of a start as the Huskies could have hoped for, Western Michigan came roaring back after the goal.

“Obviously, we’re still kind of reeling from the defeat today, so we’re disappointed,” Head Coach Ryan Swan said. “But overall, there’s a lot of good things coming out of the season. We saw both sides of our team today. There was disappointment on the goals we conceded. Our second half was very good, the work rate was very good; we have many positives.”

Junior forward Jan Maertins continued his strong play by opening the scoring in minute-14 on the Huskies’ first shot on goal of the game, one of only two shots on goal for NIU the entire game. Maertins’ goal was his third goal in two games.

Senior midfielder Cameron Sipple scored with a penalty kick goal in minute-20 to knot the game at one goal apiece.

“We have to work on our decision-making and having confidence with the ball,” Swan said. “We were rushing today; we have to continue putting the guys in pressure situations, so they can [learn to] make the right decisions under pressure.”

Sipple got back to work in minute-30 when he set up first-year defender Caden Jackman’s second goal of the season to give the Broncos a 2-1 lead.

Redshirt senior Tommy Clark scored Western Michigan’s third unanswered goal in minute-33 off a free kick in Huskie territory to put the Broncos up 3-1, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“We conceded three goals, all of them from set pieces,” Swan said. “So, we just need to recognize our defenses responsibilities, not diving in on rash challenges. I think it’s just accountability and responsibilities. Some of that comes with a little more experience, and I think we can cut down on what we saw today.”

First-year midfielder Adrian Corona was sent off for a red card as a result of receiving two yellow cards in minute-33, which forced the Huskies to play nearly 60 minutes with one fewer player on the pitch. Being short a man didn’t help NIU’s possession metrics, nor did it help them try getting the pair of goals they needed to even the score of the game.

When the team returns next season, the expectations will be very high after this very promising season ended with an overall record of 8-9-1, a five-win improvement for an incredibly young team.

“[We need to] continue our improvement and keep getting better,” Swan said. “I think [several players] had exceptional freshmen years which is promising going forward. We have to continue making each of our players better and make sure that they’re not getting complacent. We’re gonna be hungry to go onto challenge for conference championships. But I certainly think [we have] a good foundation.”