The NIU men’s soccer team saved its best for last Friday night.

An overtime goal by Chris VanDuerme gave NIU a 3-2 victory over rival Western Illinois. The sudden-death goal came at 94:11.

In a hard-fought see-saw battle that saw five yellow cards issued, NIU handed 2004 NCAA Tournament participant WIU its third straight defeat.

Kevin Woerner tied the game at 1-1 on a rare penalty kick at 26:50. WIU took a 2-1 lead in the 79th minute and looked like it had taken control of the game until Justin McGrane found the back of the net to send the game into OT knotted at 2-2.

“There’s no quit in our team,” coach Steve Simmons said. “We continued to believe in just giving ourselves a chance and those chances turned into a victory.”

On Sunday the Huskies improved their record to 3-0-1 with a victory over Valparaiso.

Van Duerme had his second game-winning goal of the weekend when he scored on a scramble after a corner kick. NIU is now 10-0-0 all time against Valparaiso.

WOMEN’S RESULTS

For 70 minutes the nets at the Creighton Bluejay classic were disturbed by only the rustling of a slight breeze. In a spirited defensive battle, a goal by Katy Peetz at 76:36 gave Creighton a 1-0 victory Friday night.

The Huskies lost their second match of the weekend Sunday, giving up 22 shots in a 1-0 loss to Drake.

In Friday’s loss, NIU (2-2-1) goalie Carrie Dvorak was steady in the box all night, notching seven saves. The defense kept 17 shots from a physical CU team at bay.

Coach Marci Miller was impressed with her team’s effort and believes the tough competition her team is facing will help prepare them for conference play.

“I’m glad we are playing tough teams, it will help us in the long run,” Miller said. “We are playing well against really good teams, and managing to stay competitive.”