Athleticism, hard work, production and growth.

The four freshmen who NIU men’s soccer coach Steve Simmons brought in have defined these four words this season, and have made an immediate impact on the Huskies.

Justin McGrane, Kevin Woerner, Mike Corvo and Matt Corcoran all are starting this fall for NIU.

“Justin is athletically talented and is getting used to playing forward at the D-I level,” Simmons said. “[Kevin] is maybe the fittest kid on the team. He works awfully hard.”

McGrane and Woerner began the season as the Huskies’ first options on offense. A recent ankle sprain to junior Bernhard Hagevik and an injury that nagged senior Vraham Kadkhodaian during conditioning opened the two starting forward positions.

“They got injured, and it paved the way for me and Kevin,” McGrane said.

McGrane began his varsity career at Rockford Boylan during his sophomore year and scored six goals while helping the Titans to an Elite Eight appearance in the IHSA State Tournament.

“I just learned recently how the pace of the game really goes and how much it has changed from high school to college,” McGrane said.

Woerner was named to the all-tournament team at the Rocky Rococo Classic in Madison, Wis., after NIU’s first two games of the season. He is second on the team with three shots on goal.

“It was something where I went into the tourney and played as hard as I could,” Woerner said. “It was a real surprise, though.”

At Elmhurst High School, Woerner led the Dukes to a 42-15-4 record in his three years on the varsity team.

Woerner, Corvo and Corcoran all played on the same club team during high school, and played against McGrane’s Rockford Raptors club team this past summer.

As teammates on the Downers Grove North soccer team, Corvo and Corcoran led the Trojans to a 21-1-3 record in 2001, while making an appearance in the IHSA Class AA State Tournament.

“I knew some of the guys over here and heard about the new coach and liked his style,” Corvo said.

A two-year co-captain at DGN, Corvo scored 21 goals and had 12 assists in 2001. Before graduating, he finished his career with 53 goals, a school record, and 26 assists.

“Mike has been very productive and has been able to match up with the better attackers,” Simmons said.

Corvo knows his place is on defense right now, but he hopes that once he gets his fitness level up, he’ll be able to move back up top to forward, where he played at DGN

Corvo’s high school teammate Corcoran also found his way into the starting lineup due to an injury.

Sophomore Steve Goletz was slated to be the starter this season after stepping in for Rasih Pala at the end of last season.

In the Huskies’ game against Wisconsin, Goletz broke the fifth metacarpal in his right hand and will be out three to four weeks.

“I was a little nervous,” Corcoran said. “I knew Steve had something wrong with his finger after the Wisconsin game.”

Corcoran was a brick wall for DGN in the goal the past three seasons. He recorded a 0.44 goals-against-average his sophomore year with 15 shut-outs, while leading DGN to the state quarterfinals.

“He’s still finding his way out there,” Simmons said. “But at the end of the day, he is all right for a freshman.”

NIU still is winless this season, but the freshmen are being forced to learn on the run. Simmons is confident that once the players reach their peak of physical fitness, they will begin turning things around.

“I told the administration when I came here that it would take some time before things got better,” Simmons said. “But I did not expect us to be where we are at this point.”