DeKALB | With success certainly comes consequences.

The NIU men’s soccer team and coach Steve Simmons have that in mind this weekend.

The defending MAC regular-season and tournament champions open the spring season with a double header at Huskie Stadium Saturday.

Game 1 is at 4 p.m. against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Game 2 is at 7 p.m. against NCAA elite-eight qualifier Northwestern.

“You’ve got to pat yourself on the back when you do something well,” Simmons said. “But in doing well, you just make the target on your back bigger.”

The games will be modified and feature a pair of 30-minute halves and liberal substitutions. The main objective is exposure and improvement for a wide variety of players.

Simmons said the grind of the fall schedule makes it hard for players that don’t receive a lot of time to blossom and the spring time is a great time to work on the X’s and O’s of the game.

“This is the real fun part,” Simmons said. “In the fall, we are looking for results. This is a great time for our kids to learn and recover from mistakes.”

The reigning MAC coach of the year expects some nervous energy from his team on Saturday. The overall goal is to build momentum that will propel the squad into a solid summer training session.

“As a lawyer, you don’t start studying for the bar the night before,” Simmons said. “Our team is excited; they know they’ve got a lot to live up to.”