Goals have been hard to come by for the NIU men’s soccer team this year, but things turned around in the season finale.

The Huskies poured it on in a 5-1 win against Milwaukee Thursday night to take the Lewang Cup.

“I was pleased that we finally, for all the work that they’ve put in, had a scoring outbreak that is in par with the way we’ve been playing for most of the season,” said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. “There were a number of games that we could’ve scored four or five goals and things just weren’t falling for us.”

With the victory, NIU (9-6-2 overall, 2-4-0 MAC) finished the season on a three-match winning streak and have now held on to the Lewang Cup since 2006 over the Panthers.

“We had some great individual efforts, everyone was working for each other and we put ourselves in great position,” said senior defender Kyle Knotek. “People just relaxed and the pressure was off and we just played the way we knew we could play the whole season.”

The onslaught began in the third minute when junior midfielder Finn Jor played a ball over the top to senior striker Juan Hoyos who beat the keeper in a one on one.

UWM (6-9-2 overall, 4-4-0 Horizon) struck back in the 20th minute as sophomore forward Cody Banks one-timed a shot just under the crossbar.

NIU grabbed the lead back in the 34th minute with a free kick just outside the 18 from senior midfielder Engebreth Faerden.

Faerden’s accuracy proved deadly again in the 71st minute as he struck another free kick for his second of the season.

Jor added his third of the season in the 81st as he put away a partially-saved ball that was headed initially from Hoyos via a corner kick.

The final and fifth strike came with three minutes left as senior midfielder Luis Mojica crossed a ball into the box and one Panther attempted to clear the ball, which hit the crossbar and found itself in the net for an own goal.

UWM outshot the Huskies 13-12, but NIU was more precise with a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal.

Senior day was last weekend, but the seniors came to play in their final match and Luzzi acknowledged it.

“Those guys gave a lot to our team for four years and to have almost all of our scoring come from seniors was fantastic,” Luzzi said. “And with [Knotek] on the other side of it, defensively, they all had a great performance tonight.”