Sophomore Justin McGrane regrouped the NIU men’s soccer team after its 1-0 loss to IUPUI on Friday, scoring twice in the Huskies win over Wright State on Sunday.

In overtime, NIU played with a one-man advantage, and McGrane scored his second goal of the game on Raider’s goalkeeper Jason Balach to give the Huskies a 2-1 win over WSU.

“He adds a lot of pace and power on offense,” NIU coach Steve Simmons said. “We needed someone to stretch the opposing defense and moved him up top from left-midfielder in the second half.”

The Huskies (2-3) struck first on WSU when McGrane drove in from the midfield line and scored unassisted from 10-yards out.

WSU (2-2) tied the game at one before halftime when Jason Tackis took a loose-ball pass from Josh Zimmerlin and scored on NIU goalkeeper Brent Hartman. Steve Goletz, who is NIU’s regular starting goalkeeper, was out with a leg contusion after a collision on Friday.

Conditions were hot and humid, so the Huskies played very tactfully in the second half, Simmons said.

“Our backs, specifically Bruce Conrad, did a wonderful job of cancelling out their offense,” Simmons said. “We wanted to make sure we got everyone behind the ball.”

With fewer than four minutes remaining in the game, McGrane went back on the attack, and for the second time in three games was fouled in the penalty box. The foul was on WSU’s Jonah Baskin, who received a red card, forcing the Raiders to play the Huskies with 10 men the rest of the game.

Simmons had sophomore Jose Alvarado take the penalty kick, but Alvarado missed, and neither team scored in the time left, sending the game into overtime.

Against IUPUI (4-0), the Huskies were on the defensive with less than four minutes remaining.

Leading IUPUI with seven goals, freshman Vangel Nacovski scored the game-winner on a free kick after an Alvarado yellow card. Nacovski sliced the ball to the right of the Huskies’ defensive wall and past Hartman, who came into the game with nine minutes remaining after Goletz’s collision.

“I hate to say this, but I thought the refereeing had an effect on both teams,” Simmons said. “Neither team could get a handle on their calls. But on free kicks, [Nacovski] is very, very, very good.”