Men’s soccer hosts in-state rival Northwestern in a clash of two conflicting styles of play today.

The Huskies (2-4-4) and the No. 24 Northwestern Wildcats (5-1-4) square off 7 p.m. at the Soccer and Track & Field Complex. NIU owns an 18-10-3 all-time record against Northwestern.

The Wildcats like to slow down the pace of the game as much as possible. The Huskies, on the other hand, prefer to speed up the game and play at a high tempo.

“The biggest thing about Northwestern is they don’t usually beat themselves,” said head coach Eric Luzzi.

The Huskies are 0-2-3 in their last five games. Their last win came against the then-No. 23 Illinois-Chicago Flames, 1-0, Sept. 12 in DeKalb. The Wildcats enter the midweek matchup unbeaten in their last five games.

“I mean, I think we’re going to have to be sharp defensively because … if they’re allowed to they can move the ball pretty well,” Luzzi said. “So, we [have] to make sure that we get pressure defensively and [do] not allow [them] to dictate too much on the ball.

“And then when we get [the ball] I think we just have to be dangerous. We’ve proven that we’re a good soccer team. We’ve proven that we can keep the ball, we can move the ball. We just need to be dangerous, a little bit more consistently dangerous.”

Offensively, junior Cole Missimo and junior Joey Calistri lead the Wildcats with four goals apiece. Northwestern has netted 12 goals as a team.

“They’re a very high-powered offense, obviously,” said sophomore defender Richard Hall. “… We’re going to try and get in their faces. We’re going to try and make them hurry, put pressure on them [and] take the game to them more, and I don’t think they’re going to like it.”

Defensively, the Wildcats have allowed only six goals. Senior goalkeeper Tyler Miller has started all 10 games, posting six shutouts and allowing 0.55 goals per game.

“As for their defense, they’re always pretty well-disciplined and very physical out of the back, so we have to deal with that higher amount of physicality and get quick runs in behind … other than just try to muscle them off,” said junior midfielder Bertrand Gaschot.

Luzzi said he’s looking for the Huskies to come out full of energy in front of the home crowd.

“If the guys come out with good energy all the rest of the soccer stuff and the defending and the attacking, it usually takes care of itself,” Luzzi said.

Including today’s game, the Huskies play three of their next four games at home. They begin conference play when they host the West Virginia Mountaineers 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s great. I mean, home games are awesome,” Gaschot said. “Hopefully, there’ll be a good turnout. And Northwestern’s always a fun game; it’s a rivalry.”