After getting its first win in conference against Florida Atlantic, NIU men’s soccer (2-5-2, 1-0-0 MAC) looks to continue its “fresh start” mentality as it takes on the Hartwick Hawks Saturday at home.

The Hawks (3-4-2, 1-0-0 MAC) won their first and only game in conference after a 2-0 victory over Bowling Green. They are most recently coming off a 2-1 loss against Colgate.

NIU coach Eric Luzzi knows Hartwick is a growing program with a lot of overseas talent.

“Yeah, they are a good team,” Luzzi said. “Their coach is doing a good job steadily building things over the last couple years. [They have] a heavy English and European contingent on their team, which means that they have guys that can play, guys that are tactically pretty good, but they also work pretty hard, so it will be a tough game.“

David Styles, a freshman from Bognor Regis, England, is one of the English talents Luzzi referenced. Styles, a defender, has one goal and four assists on the season.

The Huskies will also have to be on the lookout for Hawks striker Cleyon Brown. A senior out of Kingston, Jamaica, Brown has a team-leading five goals and leads the team in points and shots.

NIU’s senior captain, Mike Mascitti, said it will be up to the Huskies’ attackers to keep the pressure on the Hawks.

“I think going into this weekend, if we keep the work rate up that we had with our attacking pieces then the result should follow suit,” Mascitti said.

Luzzi said the Huskies need to continue to put the ball in the net.

“We’ve created very good chances in every game we played so far,” Luzzi said. “And, to be fair, we did score a third goal. There’s no question that James [Stevenson] was on side, on a goal that we scored that was called back, so we really scored three goals, which was encouraging.”

After being on the road for the last five games, this will be the Huskies’ first home game in nearly three weeks, which is something Mascitti is looking forward to.

“I’m really excited,” Mascitti said. “I’m sure we will have a good crowd out, a lot of the student body I know will be there. It’s good to be home back in 60-degree weather versus 90-degree heat, which is what we had in Florida. So yeah, cause especially our home turf we take a lot of pride in defending, so I’m really excited.”