DeKALB | They’ve been waiting for this moment all season.

A grueling BCS-like schedule and coast-to-coast road trips culminate with the opportunity for the NIU men’s soccer team to become regular-season MAC champions.

No. 19 NIU (11-3-1 overall, 4-0 MAC) plays its final MAC match at 6 p.m. tonight at Buffalo.

The Huskies control their own destiny: a win at Buffalo ensures the first MAC regular-season title in the Steve Simmons era, and the first outright MAC regular-season title in the history of NIU men’s sports.

It will be senior night at UB Stadium, and Coach Simmons said he expects to encounter a battle-tested Buffalo (8-5-2, 2-1-0) squad along with a raucous crowd.

“They have fantastic seniors,” Simmons said. “They play at their football stadium and it will be packed. Buffalo knows they can still win a MAC title. It will be absolutely intense and we will have to be on our ‘A’ game.”

On Sunday, Wisconsin (9-4-2) comes to Huskie Soccer Field at 2:15 p.m. with an agenda to extract revenge for last year’s 1-0 home loss to NIU. The Badgers are in second place in the Big Ten.

“Wisconsin didn’t have a game this week,” Simmons said. “They’ve got eight days off, so there is going to be a big fat bull’s-eye on our backs. This weekend will really test our resiliency.”

NIU is riding a six-match winning streak and an eight-match unbeaten streak.

Plus the Huskies have swept the last four MAC Player of the Week Awards.

Junior forward Marcus McCarty, senior midfielder Chris VanDuerm, sophomore goalkeeper Joe Zimka and sophomore defender Drew Jeskey have all brought home the honors. Jeskey was also named to Soccer America’s Men’s Team of the Week.

Despite the national recognition and conference accolades, Simmons said the best is yet to come for his squad.

“We have room to grow,” Simmons said. “In soccer there is so much gray area, because it is such a flowing sport; there is always something that you can get better at.”

A loss would create a three-way tie atop the standings between Akron, Buffalo and NIU. Akron and Buffalo square off on October 27 at Lee Jackson Field.

James Nokes is the NIU men’s soccer beat reporter for the Northern Star.