Victory has slipped through the hands of the NIU men’s soccer team in its first four games of the season.

The Huskies (0-3-1) will look to pick up their first win of the year at this weekend’s NIU Fall Invitational. NIU plays at noon on Saturday against Oneonta State College (3-1-0) and finishes the weekend off at 2:30 p.m. Sunday against IUPUI (1-4-0).

“Oneonta State is a very good team with some very good players,” NIU coach Steve Simmons said.

NIU will still be without forward Bernhard Hagevik, who is still rehabbing a sprained ankle, but he is expected to return for next weeks game at Loyola University.

Defense is still preached by Simmons in practice as the area NIU needs to focus on the most.

“The players are understanding more and more of what we ask of them,” Simmons said. “Especially putting pressure on the ball on defense.”

Oneonta has outscored their opponents 7-3 this year and the same applies to NIU, but in reverse.

Simmons is mostly concerned with the new rule implemented this season where players are not allowed to substitute back in after they come out, which is applied to only second-half substitutions.

“It’s made it real difficult for a lot of teams to keep their team fresh,” Simmons said. “Our substitution pattern will depend on the tempo of the first game.”

The Huskies’ second opponent of the weekend comes in on a three-game losing skid.

“We’re just going to continue to work hard and try to find the right pieces to the puzzle,” Simmons said.