After beating Bowling Green earlier in the season, the Huskies’ mens soccer team were at it again as they took down the Falcons in the first round of the MAC Tournament Thursday morning.

The second-seed Huskies placed momentum in their favor to help them to a 2-0 victory over seventh-seed Falcons.

NIU advanced to 10-5-4 on the season and reached double digit wins for the fourth time in five years.

The last game against Bowling Green ended with a 1-0 Huskies win, but NIU head coach Steve Simmons said the game play was much different.

“Tournament games are always high energy, and I thought our guys brought a lot of that energy,” Simmons said. “They really created a lot of momentum for themselves.”

He said the first goal of the game resulted from that momentum. The goal was marked as an own goal after a Falcon put his head on a free kick shot from NIU.

“It was one of those goals that was a result of the momentum we created,” Simmons said. “When you have a team that’s constantly descending on their goal, stuff like that happens.”

NIU carried its momentum through the game with a second goal; one that Simmons said was a more classic play.

The play unfolded as a perfect cross and finish between freshman Brad Horton and junior Danny Lopez.

“We were very pleased with that because we’d been working on crossing and finishing all week. Danny was exactly where he needed to be and was able to finish it out for us.”

With the 2-0 win, the Huskies will move on to semi-finals today at 5 p.m. when they take on either No. 3 Buffalo or No. 6 FAU in Akron, Ohio.

“In tournament play, all is up in the air,” Simmons said. “A lot of times, seeding, at this point, just means what color you are going to wear because everyone is capable.”

But Simmons said that Thursday’s win puts the team in a good spot as far as advancing to the semi-finals.

“It was a good start to the tournament, that’s a very tough tournament to play in,” the coach said. “We’re just going to do as much as we can to get our legs back and prepare for [today’s] semi-finals.”