The NIU men’s soccer team heads to the west coast this weekend for games Friday against Oregon State and Saturday against Gonzaga. The Huskies’ two opponents tentatively are heading in different directions.

Oregon State has lost two straight matches at home, each by one goal, while the Bulldogs are coming off a win against No. 20 Washington and are ranked 29th in the College Soccer News poll.

The Huskies will have to bring the same intensity against both teams.

“Both are very good,” NIU coach Steve Simmons said. “[Oregon State] is gonna be flying. They’re a team that has out shot their opponents significantly and has not got the results. That tells you something. And it’s [the match] at their field.”

Homecoming

Going back to the northwest will be a homecoming of sorts for Simmons. The fifth-year coach can trace his soccer roots back to the area, both in terms of his playing career and his previous coaching career.

Simmons’ first coaching job was at Gonzaga for the 1994 season.

“Went to school there, got my masters there,” he said. “I know their coach very, very well.”

Simmons also coached at Oregon State from 2001-02, compiling an 18-20 record.

“That was the last place I was at before I came here,” he said. “So I know a lot of those kids, on the recruiting side of things. And I know the coaches very well.”

Extra rest

Tuesday’s practice was very thin in terms of participation. Simmons gave many of his starters a day off to get treatment for minor injuries, but his decision was based mostly on getting his players an extra day of rest.

“A lot of those guys have played every minute of every game this season,” Simmons said.

That adds up to a lot of minutes played, considering NIU has gone to overtime in five of its six matches to date.

“When you play every minute of every game, that’s a lot of minutes early on,” Simmons said.

Simmons also took into consideration the fact that the Huskies play back to back games this weekend (Friday and Saturday), instead of playing Friday, having Saturday to rest, and playing their second game Sunday, which has been the schedule the first three weekends of the season.

“Some of the guys just need a little more rest,” Simmons said. “We wanna make sure that they’re fresh as possible.”