The NIU men’s soccer team won’t need motivation for what could be its final match of the season.

The Huskies have plenty of bulletin-board material for their play-in match with Bowling Green in the MAC Tournament.

If the Huskies want to extend their season to the semifinals of the conference tournament, only a win will help.

They also are looking to avenge a 3-0 conference loss to the Falcons on Nov. 2. The Huskies may think they owe a little payback to Bowling Green.

“(Our players) have asked questions of themselves every week,” coach Steve Simmons said. “So the type of hunger going into Bowling Green will be pretty strong.”

NIU (6-8-4, 1-3-1) will have its leading goal scorer back for today’s match. Marcus MaCarty sat out the regular season finale against UW-Milwaukee due to picking up his fifth yellow card, but will be ready to go today. Having him is key to the Huskies’ offense.

“The [offensive] pieces that we have this year all bring some pretty significant things to the table, but they all have things that have caused them to be less effective than they can be,” Simmons said. “If they can address those things, I think you’ll see a team peaking at the right time of year.”