The men’s soccer team beat the Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons 4-2 in a rugged affair on Friday. The Huskies’ first home game ended with 49 fouls, two red cards and eight yellow cards. By minute 74, the Mastodons were playing short two players on the pitch as a result of the red cards.

“It was physical from the start,” sophomore midfielder Alex Welch said. “I think the [referees] started losing a bit of control, and [the Mastodons] started getting frustrated. I think we kept our heads for the most part, and I think the boys did well in that regard.”

Welch opened the scoring in minute seven with his second goal of the season, courtesy of a penalty kick.

The Huskies have now scored the opening goal in all five of their games this season, including both of Welch’s markers.

“It feels great,” Welch said. “At the beginning of the season, they pushed me off of my normal holding pattern. I came into the season thinking I wanted to score more goals and create more goals. It’s going in a good direction, and I want to keep it up.”

Freshman defender Anthony Markanich scored his first career collegiate goal in minute 13 to pad NIU’s lead.

The Mastodons responded with a pair of goals in minutes 16 and 21 to tie the game to make the score 2-2.

The Mastodons second goal came off a free kick play in front of the NIU goal, baffling the Huskies and leaving players standing around with their hands in the air.

“I thought it was a good play from them,” Head Coach Ryan Swan said. “They just got the ball down quickly; they didn’t wait for the referee, and our guys were trying to get organized. I thought it was a very smart and [a] well done free kick from them.”

Junior forward Jan Maertins stole the lead back with a goal in minute 27 on an assist from senior midfielder Kevin Rodriguez. The Huskies didn’t look back after Maertins’ goal, though he didn’t sound thrilled about it.

“It feels good, apart from the goals we conceded,” Maertins said. “We have to make sure now that I don’t score the third goal and that’s the goal of the game. We should score one goal, and that should be the goal of the game. I think this team has the quality to clean that up. I’m positive and confident we will get it right and get better.”

Despite plenty of action in between, the next and final goal wasn’t scored until minute 80. Freshman forward Nick Markanich scored his team-leading third goal of the season to give NIU insurance late in the game.

The Huskies won the possession battle throughout the game, and it got worse once the Mastodons were forced to play with two less players on the field. NIU finished with 21 shots, 10 of which were on goal compared to seven shots from Purdue, two of which were on goal.

NIU received four yellow cards in the second half when physicality started heating up.

“It was pretty early in the second half that you could start to see the potential for a red card to pop up,” Swan said. “I was happy that our guys managed it. They stood up to the challenge, but didn’t get caught up in any of the direct play, which easily could have happened.”

The Mastodons were given four yellow cards and two red cards, two of each in the second half.

“We knew from the start they would come out really aggressive and direct,” Maertins said. “We need to make sure we get into these little arguments and fights with the [referees] or players. We just have to man up and take what’s coming [to us]. I think with the quality we have on the ball, we are able to face these direct teams.”

The Huskies look to keep their perfect record 7 p.m. Wednesday at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex against the Western Illinois University Leathernecks.

“I think Western Illinois has a lot of the same traits as Fort Wayne,” Swan said. “I think it will be a very similar game. We have to clean things up defensively. That’s now five goals we’ve conceded in the past two games, and I think a lot of them are avoidable.”