Cars flooded the tree line of Stadium Drive West on Sunday afternoon at Huskie Soccer Field.

Of a season-high 436 fans to watch the NIU men’s soccer team face Akron for the MAC regular season title, the first 100 were given ThunderStix.

With NIU (11-6 overall, 4-2 MAC) down 2-1 with 10 seconds left, Huskies sophomore Justin McGrane charged the Akron net. Freshman Curt Zastrow controlled the ball 25 yards out and dropped a pass to McGrane, whose shot hit the left goal post and missed as time expired in NIU’s 2-1 loss on Senior Day.

With NIU’s loss, Kentucky – which competes in the MAC only for men’s soccer -secured the conference title. NIU can finish no lower than third, but would need Western Michigan to win at Buffalo Friday to get second place.

The Huskies fell behind 1-0 nine minutes in when Akron’s Ross McKenzie buried a 40-yard free kick into the Huskies’ net.

“We came out with good intensity, but it wasn’t great,” senior captain Andy Champion said. “If not for a couple unlucky bounces, we may have been up 1-0 early.”

Akron struck again in the second half to take a 2-0 lead at the 67:54 mark before NIU senior Bernhard Hagevik cut the deficit in half.

Hagevik dropped in a header with nine minutes remaining off a Kevin Woerner corner kick for NIU’s lone goal.

“We brought it in the second half, and Bernie played his heart out,” NIU Coach Steve Simmons said. “But when you play Akron, an NCAA-caliber team, you have to pay attention to the minor details.”

NIU would receive second place in conference on a WMU win because of a three-way tie for second place based on winning percentages between NIU, WMU and Akron. All three have a 1-1 record against one another, but the Huskies are the only team of the three to beat UK.

However, if WMU loses, then the winning percentage tie would go to Akron since it beat NIU on Sunday, and NIU would finish third.

“To get a result, whether it be a tie or win, would have been good,” Simmons said. “But our guys are resilient enough to come back. It’s tournament time, and anyone can win.”

With the loss Sunday, the Huskies have lost two in a row after falling 1-0 Friday in the John Lewang Cup at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The Huskies host non-conference foe DePaul on Wednesday in their last regular season game.

“We had a nice practice Saturday and were completely focused,” Champion said. “We left it all on the field, and you can’t ask for more than that.”