“Our attitude for the whole season is going to be: the next game is the most important no matter who it is.”

This is the mentality that NIU head coach Eric Luzzi and the men’s soccer team will not give up on after starting it last season.

No. 19 Portland, the most important opponent of the season at this point, is waiting in Oregon for the Huskies, as they will face off Friday night in each others’ season opener. NIU’s future most important foe will be Washington when the teams come together Sunday in Portland.

Portland’s 2009 season ended in a 1-0 loss in the NCAA Tournament round of 16 to eventual champion Virginia.

Washington defeated the Huskies 5-0 during NIU’s 2006 run in the two teams only meeting.

“[Portland] has a lot of returners back, they have a very strong tradition and they’re going to be a very good team,” Luzzi said. “[Washington’s] a Pac 10 team, which is one of the best conferences in the country. Two very good teams, and it’s going to be a challenging weekend for our guys.”

Including NIU’s first match against Portland, the Huskies will square-off with three ranked opponents this season in No. 9 Northwestern and No. 1 Akron.

The Huskies are returning seven starters from last season and have brought in nine recruits.

One big addition for the team this season was one giant loss for NIU in 2009. Senior defender Kyle Knotek missed all of last season after injuring his knee on the first day of fall training. Before last year’s mishap, Knotek was in the backfield for the Huskies’ 2006 MAC Championship and was named to the “ESPN The Magazine” Academic All-America Men’s Soccer Second Team in 2008.

Behind Knotek and the back line will be sophomore keeper Jordan Godsey, who is looking to follow up an impressive first season where he had a 0.71 goals against average and an .852 save percentage. Godsey guided NIU to seven shutouts and a 10-7-1 record and after a solid freshman year, he tries not to lean on last year’s stats.

“I just take it day-by-day,” Godsey said. “I try not to look at last year. Last year is last year.”

In the attacking third, Luzzi mentioned sophomore Brad Horton and seniors Luis Mojica and Juan Hoyos will help the Huskies create an impressive offense. The three combined for 11 goals and seven assists last year out of the team’s 32 total strikes and 29 assists.