After its first loss in the MAC, men’s soccer will take a break from conference play as it takes on Valparaiso tonight.

The Huskies (3-7-2) are coming off of a 2-0 loss to Akron. They will look to take advantage of the struggling Crusaders (1-6-5) and gain some momentum as they will continue MAC play against Bowling Green this weekend.

Despite only having one win this season, coach Eric Luzzi said Valparaiso shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“They are an interesting team,” Luzzi said. “They’ve only won one game, but they are certainly a better team than a one-win team. They haven’t scored a lot of goals, but they haven’t let in a lot of goals.”

To go along with a lack of goals, the Crusaders have recorded three shut outs on the season.

This Valparaiso defense will be a good test for the NIU attack as it has struggled in front of the goal throughout the season. Attacking players, like Paul Hogan and Karim Darbaki, have played well but have not put up as many points as they did last season.

Darbaki has seen a shrink in his playing time, and even though he played well against Akron, he will need to be more consistent for the Huskies to be successful.

Luzzi said his team needs to keep up the offensive pressure.

“For us it’s going to be important that we try and be the aggressor,” Luzzi said. “Take the initiative in the game, hopefully get on the ball, hopefully play in their half as much as possible. We have to understand it’s not going to be easy.”

Senior defender Pat Sloan is excited for the challenge.

“It’s a non-conference game, but we are still trying to go in and get a win,” Sloan said. “We came off a tough weekend. We are still trying to come out and turn it around. We are pretty disappointed from the weekend. But we played really well against a really good team, and we are excited to play.”

The Huskies will be without senior defender Rocco Taglia for the game, as he was suspended for a red card he picked up against Akron. Taglia has started every game this season for the Huskies.

Luzzi said his team is carrying a positive attitude.

“We are in a good place,” Luzzi said. “The guys still have a lot of belief, still have a lot of things that we talked about that we want to happen. Certainly our main focus is to try and take care of things in conference and get in the conference tournament. We just have to have faith that if we keep doing what we have been doing we are going to get the result.”