For the second time in school history, NIU men’s soccer advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The Huskies shutout Western Illinois 3-0 at the NIU Soccer Complex.

With the Huskies (15-5-0) win over the Leathernecks, (13-7-1) they also tied their record for wins in a season with 15.

NIU came out on the attack, taking four corner kicks in the first 10 minutes of play, but failed to convert on any of them.

The Huskies continued to be aggressive and struck first in the 19th minute on a goal scored by sophomore Sean Totsch, his third goal of the season.

“It was a great experience,” Totsch said. “We definitely want to repeat this performance and carry on this win onto the next game. The next game will be tough, and we need to play well.”

The goal was scored on a set piece delivered by freshman Jayson LeSeth, who got an assist on the play along with sophomore Karim Darbaki.

“Hats off to Northern Illinois,” said WIU men’s soccer coach Eric Johnson. “I thought they stuck to their game plan and were really effective on restarts. We really struggled with their size on corner kicks and free kicks. I thought they were well prepared. NIU head coach Eric Luzzi did a great job in getting them ready for the game, and that’s the way it goes.”

In the 43rd minute, NIU increased its lead to 2-0 when freshman Isaac Kannah scored his second goal of the season, off an assist from sophomore James Stevenson and senior Kenny Kranz.

The Huskies took their 2-0 lead into the second half with a 9-2 advantage in shots, as well as 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.

In the 73rd minute of the match, NIU struck again when junior Mike Mascitti scored his first goal of the season on a one timer assisted again by Kranz, making the score 3-0.

NIU’s defense and junior goalkeeper Jordan Godsey continued their strong play and closed out the match, picking up their 12th shutout of the season.

“It was another very good performance,” Luzzi said. “Anytime you do that, you limit a team like that, it’s a statement of the group as a whole. All 11 guys have to be bought into that. The back six and Jordan [Godsey] were generally very solid today.”

With the victory, NIU will move on to face the No. 2 seed Creighton in the second round on Sunday, November 20 in Omaha, Neb.

“I think it’s huge,” Luzzi said. “We expect to be the kind of team that is in this position every year, so the fact that it happened this year…and to come out with the kind of result that we did… I’m pleased for the guys and I’m pleased for the statement this makes about where our program is at and hopefully where we’re going to continue to head.”