The men’s soccer team fell to the United States Naval Academy Midshipmen, 2-0, Friday at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility in Annapolis, Maryland.

NIU (0-2-1) outshot Navy 11-8, but were unable to put one past the goalkeeper to earn their first win of the season. The coaching staff gave credit to Navy for taking advantage of their opportunities.

“Give full credit to Navy,” said Head Coach Eric Luzzi. “[Navy was] very opportunistic, they finished the chances they created, and once they went up, they did a good job to manage the game.”

The Huskies created scoring chances all night but were unable to convert their scoring opportunities into goals. On the other hand, Navy (1-1-1) capitalized on their chances in Huskie territory.

“I thought on the whole, our guys were fantastic,” Luzzi said. “We played the vast majority of the game in their half [of the pitch], we created a large number of chances.”

The coach’s message to the team was simple; NIU played a good game and will need to carry the momentum into Sunday’s game against University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

Navy opened the scoring in the 26-minute when a midfield run by junior forward Daniel Zaremba created a scoring chance for the Midshipmen. Zaremba missed the initial attempt but followed his own miss for a 1-0 Navy lead.

The Huskies continued to create scoring chances in the first half, but still went into halftime down a goal.

Quickly after the break, the Midshipmen struck again.

Navy’s freshman defenseman, Diego Manrique, crossed a ball toward the NIU goal where junior forward Aubrey Jones was waiting to put the ball into the net, giving Navy a 2-0 lead.

The Huskies continued to be dominant in creating scoring chances throughout the game but were unable to get on the board.

NIU will be home this weekend for the NIU Adidas Invitational.They will play Friday and Sunday versus Binghamton University and Utah Valley State University, respectively.