DeKALB — The No. 13 ranked Western Michigan Broncos were too much for the Huskies as NIU tallied their first conference loss of the season on a 5-0 defeat Saturday.

The Huskies (3-8, 0-1-1 Mid-American Conference) were unable to deal with the high-powered Broncos offense and the rainy conditions.

Head Coach Ryan Swan said it was a tall task playing against a ranked team like Western Michigan, and the Broncos came more ready to play.

“Obviously that’s a good Western Michigan team, [and] at the end of the day, it was men against boys,” Swan said. “In the first half, we didn’t compete, and they just ran on top of us. [Western Michigan] just played into our weaknesses, [and] it was just terrible from every perspective.”

The Broncos had the upper-hand on offense for the majority of the game, including four goals in the first half. The Broncos had 24 shots and five on goal, compared to five shots and zero shots on goal for the Huskies.

Swan said offensive persistence was the key for the Broncos.

“I think the commitment to go win second balls was a big [factor] all over the field,” Swan said. “They drove the ball into dangerous areas and if they couldn’t win the first one, they were getting on the second one. They were striking the ball with conviction and [winning the 50/50 balls].”

The game was delayed an hour because of heavy rain. Swan said the conditions played a small role in the game, but the willingness to play in the conditions was the difference in the game.

“I think the weather played a part in the sense that we weren’t excited to come out and play in the weather, and I think [Western Michigan] was happy to come out and grind out [the win] any way they needed to,” Swan said. “From a psychological perspective, we didn’t want to be on the field, but both teams had to play in it, and I don’t think [we were ready] today.”

The Broncos scored two goals in the first seven minutes of the game on redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic.

“A lot of these goals you can’t put on the goalkeeper, but at the same time, when a goalkeeper gives up goals, they have to take some responsibility,” Swan said. “I think there’s bigger issues in front of [Dziedzic] though,”

The Huskies have three conference games remaining and have yet to record a conference win this season.

NIU will take on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cougars 6 p.m. Saturday at the Soccer and Track & Field Complex.