If you missed the NIU soccerfest on Saturday, and you are a big fan of soccer you should be ashamed of yourself. The field was in great condition, the weather was perfect, and the way in which the NIU men’s and women’s teams crushed their opponents made the event a big success.

The women’s team kicked things off by beating the socks off of a Loyola team that looked as if they had no business being on the same field as the Huskies.

The Huskies had control of the game from start to finish, even though the score would lead you to believe that it was a close match. Freshman Jody Mcintosh got the ball rolling for the Huskies early in the first half when she shot a ball that deflected off a Loyola defender and managed to find it’s way into the goal.

Loyola evened things up right after the half when a Huskie defender committed a hand ball foul in the Huskies own penalty box which left the Ramblers with a penalty kick. Megan Lammers didn’t waste the opportunity to knot the game up at one and drilled the ball into the back of the net.

The Huskies didn’t let the goal by the Ramblers shake them up and kept pounding away until Andrea Swing passed the ball off to teammate Laura Santoro who gave the Huskies a 2-1 advantage by putting one in from 18 yards out.

With the game in hand, freshman Amy Derry sailed one past the Loyola goal keeper from 20 yards out. Olga Perez had the assist.

The women Huskies have Sunday off, but spring back into action when they will travel to Notre Dame to take on the fighting Irish in their second exhibition at 7 p.m. on Monday

Once the ladies made way for the men’s team to take center stage they didn’t waste any time showing the cross town Kishwaukee team what it takes to play at the Division I level.

The Huskies kicked the outmanned Kishwaukee team from one end of the field to the other. If I have ever in my short life seen an instance where a team should have quit, this was one of them.

The Huskies beat Kishwaukee by the demoralizing and almost unbelievable score of 17-0. Transfer student Sigurd Slaastad wasted no time showing the fans and his teammates how soccer is played in his homeland Norway. He received a pass at the top of the penalty box, junked three defenders and beat the keeper near post.

After the first goal, it was as if someone opened up the flood gates and nine different Huskies found the back of the net, including Sigurd Slaastad with five, Nathan Mitchell with four, Rob Grabko with two, P.J. Dicaro, Todd Vanecko, Jay Konrad, Andy Lane, Tim Prerost, and Derek Niepomnick each added one a piece. Sigurd Slaastad, who played a very impressive game, said, “I know Kishwaukee is not the type of team we will be playing once the season starts, but I think we played well today, and if we can perform at this level all season we should have a good chance of winning conference.”

The coach of Kishwaukee conceded “that the Huskies were a great ball club with good skilled athletes.”

There was a section of fans at the games Saturday that was composed of the alumni who participated in the second annual Soccerfest alumni game.

Before both games, the Huskie alums enjoyed themselves by playing in an intersquad game and then sat back and cheered for both teams.