“It’s a [expletive] kick in the teeth.”

Junior defender Francis Otira, along with the rest of the NIU men’s soccer team, was feeling the pain after falling to Hartwick 1-0 in its MAC opener Saturday afternoon.

“It hurts and it needs to hurt because at the end of the day, the game is about winning the game,” said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi.

NIU (4-3-2) dominated play throughout the game and had the majority of the scoring chances, while outshooting the Hawks (2-7-1) 28-8 with a 6-1 advantage of shots on goal.

“Everything other than the score, I have no issue with,” Luzzi said. “We created 28 shots again. Our attack was very good.”

Junior defender Brad Horton started the onslaught of chances in the ninth minute as he ripped a shot past the diving keeper, but was denied by the unforgiving post.

The gusting wind was on the backs of NIU for the first half, but the score remained deadlocked at nil-nil.

NIU junior midfielder Finn Jor opened up the second half with a run from near midfield, through the defense and blasted a shot from around 10 yards away, but was stopped by Hartwick keeper Lee Fenner.

In the 59th minute, Huskie freshman midfielder Gael Rivera hooked up with senior striker Juan Hoyos for a give and go, which gave Rivera a shot around the penalty kick spot, but was again denied by Fenner.

Hartwick broke through in the 63rd minute off of a corner kick. Senior defender Owen Botting took the corner which bent over the stretched reach of sophomore keeper Jordan Godsey and, with the help of Mother Nature, ended up in the back of the net.

The Huskies would get a few more scoring chances from Jor and junior striker Johnny Tyma, but nothing ever ended in their favor.

This loss ended the Huskies’ five match unbeaten streak while they gave up their first goal in almost 410 minutes.

“They only had two shots on goal; there’s a 40 mph wind driving down the field that had a freakish effect on a corner kick,” Luzzi said. “That was one shot and the other shot was in the last three minutes of the game when we were pushing numbers forward. In reality, they did not create a shot against our defense. 98 percent of what we’re doing on both sides of the ball is really, really good.”

NIU is facing its toughest week of the season in Wisconsin and No. 1 Akron and is hoping to use this loss as motivation.

“It’s a step backwards if we don’t learn from it,” Otira said. “A mistake ain’t a mistake unless you do it again.”