DeKALB | Finding the will to win has not come early in the season for the NIU men’s soccer team, but there is still a glimmer after its first win of the year.

The Huskies split the weekend with a 2-1 loss to Oregon State Friday and then a 2-0 win over Cleveland State on Sunday.

NIU (1-2-1) had plenty of chances on net in its Friday loss to former coach Steve Simmons, but were unable to capitalize on more than its western opponent.

“In some ways I think we were the better team, but the only thing that really matters is the final score,” said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. “I thought some of the soccer stuff was pretty good and I think our non-soccer things are not good enough right now. I think our work rate is a little uncharacteristically not hard enough and I think our mental toughness and our will is not strong enough right now.”

Senior defender Kyle Knotek helped open the scoring when he found junior forward Johnny Tyma in the 15th minute on a low cross. Tyma received the ball at the six-yard box, quickly turned and placed the ball to the right corner of the net.

Oregon State (2-1-0) turned the match upside down with two goals in succession in the 67th and 70th minutes. The first came via a volley from freshman midfielder Roberto Farfan after the ball was deflected to the top of the box from a throw-in. Farfan was also involved in the game winner as he crossed the ball to senior forward Brian Ramsey, who headed it past sophomore keeper Jordan Godsey.

Luzzi added that the two quick goals were due to mental lapses and sloppiness on the part of his squad.

The Huskies out shot the Beavers 11-8 with a 10-5 shots on goal advantage, but were turned away nine times by junior keeper Steve Spangler.

In the weekend’s second matchup, NIU finished on top of Cleveland State (1-3-0) in shots, but was able to come out with a more enjoyable result.

“To be honest, I didn’t think today was a great performance, but there’s something to be said for finding a way to get the result,” Luzzi said.

Senior midfielder Luis Mojica netted both of NIU’s strikes against the Vikings. Mojica struck first in the sixth minute as he finessed by defenders and took a low powerful shot, which deflected off a Cleveland State player into the goal. In the 69th minute, the St. Charles native proved his range as he buried a shot from the 18 into the bottom-left corner just out of the keeper’s reach.

“Aside from the two goals, I think it was average,” Mojica said of his performance during the Huskies’ victory. “I just got lucky being in the right place.”

Junior keeper Nate Dubois came up with two saves in his first start of the young season and also grabbed his first assist as he found Mojica for the team’s second goal.

Dubois split the weekend starts with Godsey as the NIU coaching staff is finding difficulties in making choices for its starters due to the Huskies one key strength that all programs would love to have.

“We’ve said since the beginning of preseason that our strength is in our depth,” Luzzi said. “We have really hard decisions every time we pick a starting 11.”