After having its six-game winning streak ended Sunday by Marshall, the NIU men’s soccer team will play the first and last place teams in the MAC this weekend.

At noon today at Huskie Soccer Field, the Huskies host MAC bottom-feeder Bowling Green (0-12 overall, 0-2 MAC).

NIU (7-4-0, 1-1) then plays a 2:30 p.m. contest Sunday at MAC leader Kentucky (7-3-2, 3-0).

“We’ve had a good week of practice,” NIU coach Steve Simmons said. “Hopefully, that carries over to this weekend.”

The Huskies are 5-0 at home after losing their first home match Sept. 4 to Eastern Illinois but will be without backup goalkeeper Brent Hartman, who is out with strained quadriceps.

Hartman still leads the MAC with a .870 save percentage but hasn’t played since No. 1 goalkeeper Steve Goletz returned from a contusion in his right knee. The sophomore came back against Western Michigan after he missed four games.

Simmons said sophomore Matt Corcoran will be the backup against BGSU, a game the second-year coach dubbed the Huskies’ biggest game of the year.

“It’s going to be another test of our intensity,” Simmons said. “Everything stems from there.”

While the Huskies take on BGSU, the Kentucky team will be preparing for NIU in its only game of the weekend.

Kentucky is riding high on its nine-game winning streak behind sophomore Jamal Shteiwi’s 20 points.

Shteiwi has eight goals on the year, which is five more than NIU’s co-leading goal scorers, freshman Curt Zastrow and senior Bruce Conrad.

“We were still sleeping on the bus last week,” said NIU sophomore Justin McGrane about the Huskies’ 3-1 loss to Marshall. “But we’re 7-4 now. We’re four games above last year already, and we have a better outlook. We know we have a chance to win every game.”