NIU men’s soccer got back on track Wednesday afternoon after losing two matches in a row, with a 3-0 win against MAC opponent Western Michigan.

This was a big win for the Huskies (9-4-0, 1-2-0 MAC) as it was their first MAC win of the season.

“It was crucial for us to get the win,” said Eric Luzzi, NIU head men’s soccer coach. “We talked about dealing with pressure and how damaging that could be if we don’t deal with it well. If we went 0-3, that’s a lot of pressure. So the fact that we got that one, we can look forward to our next game on senior day.”

In the first half, NIU had three chances for goals but was unable to put its shots away.

Meanwhile, the Broncos (5-9-1, 1-2-1 MAC) had many chances of their own in the first half, as they controlled the ball for the last 20 minutes of the half and took five shots on goal.

Western Michigan outshot the Huskies 9-3 in the first half.

The second half was a different story for NIU as it capitalized on its opportunities.

“To be fair, we scored three goals and it could have been six or seven goals,” Luzzi said. “I was pleased eventually that we got the goals, but we could have had more.”

In the 63rd minute, NIU sophomore Karim Darbaki assisted senior Pat Sloan, for his third goal of the season to put the Huskies up 1-0.

A minute later, NIU sophomore James Stevenson scored to increase NIU’s lead to 2-0.

Stevenson was assisted by sophomore Gael Rivera on a corner kick.

Later, in the 83rd minute, Stevenson added his second goal of the match, which was assisted by Sloan and senior Kenny Kranz.

The two goals on the day gave Stevenson four goals on the year.

The Huskies were relieved to score after being shut out in their two prior matches.

“Obviously, it was a relief to get some goals to go in,” Stevenson said. “Getting the goals was enjoyable and good for us. We’re trying to recapture to the fun of our early season.”

The NIU defense also played well, and junior goalkeeper Jordan Godsey recorded six saves to earn his seventh shutout of the season.

“For the most part, the guys played with a good confidence,” Luzzi said. “We made simple decisions, worked hard for each other. The kind of stuff we were doing three weeks ago, that we had kind of got away from. It’s nothing new, but we got back to doing the things well that we can do.”