Time is running out on the 2010 season for the NIU men’s soccer team and its latest result did not help.

The Huskies lost for the fourth time in its past six games in a 3-2 defeat to Buffalo.

NIU remains winless in the MAC and has just two matches left in conference to turn things around in order to advance to the postseason.

The Huskies (6-6-2 overall, 0-4-0 MAC) outshot the Bulls 21-15 with both squads putting eight shots on target.

“On the attacking side, it was pretty good,” said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. “We were pretty sharp and created some very good chances. On the defending side of the set pieces, we gave them a couple of second and third looks that we probably shouldn’t have.”

NIU opened up the scoring in the 10th minute when senior midfielder Engebreth Faerden placed a free kick to the head of junior midfielder Finn Jor for the score.

Junior striker Mike Unwin helped UB (6-7-1, 2-2-0) tie the match in the 22nd minute after receiving a ball off of a throw-in.

The Bulls would find the back of the net two more times in the 40th and 57th minutes, thanks to sophomore defender Kyle Rogers, who scored the first two goals of his career.

Faerden assisted on the Huskies’ second and final goal as well. He ripped a shot that hit the post and found the feet of junior defender Francis Otira, who put it in to cut the deficit to one.

“Overall, it was decent; it wasn’t bad,” Luzzi said about his team’s performance. “In the last 30 minutes, our guys were as committed as any NIU team I’ve ever seen in terms of trying to push and leave everything out there on the field to try and get that goal back.”

The loss leaves NIU without a point in MAC play, but it has not been mathematically eliminated from the conference tournament.

The Huskies need to win their last two matches against Western Michigan and Bowling Green and hope for either team to lose out its final games.

“I think we’re frustrated,” Luzzi said. “We certainly didn’t expect to be 0-4 in conference, that’s for sure. We’ve got two more conference games and a cup match against Milwaukee coming up the middle of next weekend. So we’re just going to do what we can to get ready for Western Michigan and take it from there.”