The men’s soccer team dropped a tough contest Monday to the University of Green Bay Phoenix 3-2. The loss reduces the Huskies back to a .500 record through two games in the season.

A wild five-goal first half produced all of the game’s goals.

NIU drew first blood with a goal from junior forward Jan Maertins in the fifth minute. Green Bay answered with a pair of back-breaking goals 15 seconds apart in the 19th minute.

The Phoenix padded their lead with a goal in the 36th minute.

“I don’t think play got away from us necessarily; I think we just made some very big mistakes,” Head Coach Ryan Swan said. “There was a 30-minute span of the game that cost us three goals. Right up until we scored, we were good. After we scored, I think we took our foot off of the pedal. We were sitting too deep and made some critical mistakes at key moments.”

Freshman forward Nick Markanich answered 23 seconds later to keep the Huskies within one goal. Markanich’s score gives him two in as many games. He had a standout seven shots in the game, three on goal.

“[Markanich] has a good pedigree for goal scoring,” Swan said. “I think he’ll score a lot of goals for us over his career and hopefully he can keep them coming this year.”

The game was delayed in the second half for 45 minutes due to inclement weather. Similar to the weather, NIU stormed out of the gate following the delay. They finished the game leading in nearly every statistical and possession metrical category with nothing to show for it. They outshot Green Bay 18-10, including 10-5 shots on goal.

“I thought we had control of the ball more [in the second half],” Swan said. “There were some things we expected from Green Bay, and we saw them but we didn’t do the things we talked about. They took advantage of the mistakes that we made and didn’t make any big mistakes that we could capitalize on.”

The Huskies continue play on the road 4:30 p.m. Friday in Edinburg, Tex., as they take on the Houston Baptist University Huskies.