After a seven-game winning streak that pushed it to No. 22 in the nation, the NIU men’s soccer team has lost three of its last four.

The Huskies (10-5-2 overall, 3-1 MAC) will play at 7 p.m. today at Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne in their final game of the season before the MAC Tournament.

NIU’s most recent loss was Oct. 26 at Bradley. The Braves jumped out to a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game and held on as neither team scored the rest of the way.

Prior to Bradley the Huskies lost to No. 25 Wisconsin-Milwaukee and No. 1 Akron, but beat No. 20 Buffalo.

“We played strong after the first 10 minutes,” NIU coach Steve Simmons said of the Bradley game. “We played 80 good minutes and couldn’t get the equalizer. But if you don’t score, you can’t win.”

IPFW, which joined the MAC for men’s soccer Sept. 23, is carrying a 3-15 mark and 0-4 MAC record, but Simmons said it is not to be taken lightly.

“First and foremost, this is another conference game and you never want to lose a league match,” Simmons said. “The fact that this is the regular-season finale means it’s also crucial for building momentum for the postseason.”

MAC Tournament

The seeds are set for the six teams in the MAC for the conference tournament, regardless of what happens the rest of the season.

No. 1 Akron will be the No. 1 seed and host of the tournament with its 16-0-1 record and 5-0 MAC mark.

NIU and Akron will receive first-round byes, marking the first time the Huskies have made it past the first round since 1999.

The first-round games will be played at the home field of the higher seed before the winners head to Akron for the semifinal and championship games.

On Tuesday, No. 3 seed Buffalo will host No. 6 seed IPFW and No. 4 seed Western Michigan will host No. 5 seed Bowling Green.

NIU will play the winner of the Buffalo and IPFW game and Akron will play the winner of the WMU and BGSU match.

The semifinal games will be played Nov. 11 and the championship game will be played Nov. 13. The No. 1 seed has not won the tournament in the past three years.

“Any team can beat Akron on a good day,” said Buffalo men’s soccer coach John Astudillo. “Akron is the best team I’ve seen since the 1998 Indiana national championship team, but if I was Akron I’d be leery of playing teams like NIU and Western Michigan.”

The Huskies have scored 19 goals on the season while Akron leads the nation with 54 goals. NIU is No. 16 in the nation in shutout percentage, having shut out nine teams in its 17 games.

The Huskies are 5-3 in 1-0 games.

Of NIU’s 17 games, 13 have been decided by one goal or less.