Just like when a football offense goes into shotgun, or a defense into the nickel, there are many formations that a soccer team can play in.

There is the traditional 4-4-2, which gives a team a balance in both attack and defense or an attacking 4-3-3, a formation the Netherlands club Ajax has perfected.

The most important thing for Eric Luzzi, NIU men’s soccer coach, is that his team is comfortable with the formation they play in.

“In a perfect world for us, we always like our guys to feel comfortable playing in more than one shape,” Luzzi said. “It gives us options as a team to maximize how we can approach each game.”

This season the Huskies started out their season playing in a 4-2-1-2-1. It seems complicated, but it can be simplified if you think of it in three different parts.

The four are the defending players. The two are the two central mid-fielders, which sit in front of the back four mostly defending.

Think of the rest as an attacking diamond, a mid-fielder at the bottom creating plays, two on the wings attacking outside backs, and a striker at the top of the diamond to hold up the play, and link his fellow attackers into the game.

Because of struggles in the beginning of the season, NIU has recently tweaked its formation to give them more of an attacking presence, allowing them to put more defensive pressure on the opposition’s defense.

The Huskies are now playing in a 4-1-3-2 formation. The four defenders stay the same and instead of two central mid-fielders, there is now only one to sit in front of the back four. There is now no diamond midfield, just an attacking three, which supports two strikers.

The new formation adds more responsibility to sophomore central mid-fielder Jayson LeSeth.

“Id say now being by myself I def have more of a responsibility to hold in front of the back four,” LeSeth said. “Its just my job that when we are in trouble to move the ball east to west before going forward and basically just shutting down their teams attacking mid-fielder.”

A player who is enjoying the change is Isaac Kannah, an attacking mid-fielder who plays striker in the new formation.

“I like it now,” Kannah said. “It’s a big adjustment cause now you got to switch from making plays to trying to score. I feel like I like it cause of my speed and my talent and just looking for goals.”

The fact that Luzzi and his crew only tweaked their previous formation is important. If the Huskies are winning they can then go from the attacking 4-1-3-2 back to more of the defensive 4-2-1-2-1, giving them the ability to hold on to their lead.