Starting off one of their toughest weeks of the season NIU men’s soccer (3-6-2) took on the undefeated Marquette Golden Eagles (12-0) Tuesday night. Despite a solid team performance the Huskies fell, 1-0.

On a cold, windy and rainy night, Marquette came out putting NIU under a lot pressure. The Golden Eagles had nine corners in the first half alone.

Before the game, coach Eric Luzzi said that the game would come down to set piece match ups and Luzzi was right in the first half.

“Here’s the thing,” Luzzi said, “There was a 35-45 mile per hour wind at our face in the first half. So I thought our guys did a outstanding job for 45 minutes, playing with a stiff wind at our face, giving them only one decent chance.“

Led by senior goalkeeper Jordan Godsey, the Huskies defense stood strong against a bigger Golden Eagles side.

“I was told to command the box,” Godsey said. “Basically I was just coming out for everything, and punching everything.“

The Huskies were seemingly lucky to get into halftime scoreless, but they came out in the second half putting pressure on the Golden Eagles defense.

Junior mid-fielder Gael Rivera had the best chance to score for the Huskies in the 68th minute, as sophomore Isaac Kannah played him a ball, through onto goal, but Rivera’s shot went just wide.

To NIU’s dismay it was Marquette who struck first. Senior Andy Huftalin pounced on a deflected long ball, burying it from 10 yards out, to give his team the 1-0 lead and ultimately the win.

The goal was Huftalin’s eighth score of the season.

NIU senior Mike Mascitti said the team needs to regroup and get back to work. The Huskies have a quick turnaround as they face Akron Saturday.

“First and foremost, [we need] just some rest,” Mascitti said. “The guys are excited for Saturday and we will get back to training and just keep working hard for each other.”

For Luzzi, the team did well, despite the loss.

“I thought we played quite well, Luzzi said. “We had a very good plan for how to play them in the run of the play and how to deal with their set pieces. I thought the guys did what we asked. We had I think more good moments then they did and more chances but credit to them, they finished one half chance and that’s the game sometimes.”