New attitudes, renewed dedication and really sore muscles: The NIU men’s soccer team is ready for the season to begin.

“We’re going to change the culture of our program,” said first-year NIU men’s soccer coach Steve Simmons.

Players came into pre-season conditioning like every other year. Many thought they were in shape, but were not ready for the conditioning program Simmons brought over from the PAC-10.

With the soreness from their leg muscles fading, Simmons said the Huskies are now ready to begin their journey.

“I told the players it’s about the journey,” said Simmons, who was the associate coach at Oregon State the last two years. “You can’t control wins and losses because you can outplay an opponent and still lose. You can control your performance.”

The two players that will be responsible for NIU’s performance this year are seniors Matt Stukenberg and Jason Sullivan.

Neither player has experienced a winning season at NIU, going a combined 15-33-1 over the past three seasons.

The Huskies’ poor performance over the past three seasons can be traced straight to the defense. NIU has allowed an average of 34 goals scored per season in the last three years.

“We’ve been working on lots of defense in practice,” Sullivan said. “Communicating, organizing and structuring ourselves so we can be in the right position.”

The play of walk-on freshman Mike Corvo has given a much-needed boost to a team that was picked to finish last in the MAC this fall.

“So far he has done very well,” Sullivan said. “He’s very quick, hard working and very composed for a freshman.”

The Huskies’ defense won’t be any better off than they were this weekend now that starting goalkeeper Steve Goletz is out with a broken bone in his hand.

During the Wisconsin game, Goletz went to knock a ball down in front of the net and caught his fist on a Badger player’s head.

Freshman Matt Corcoran will take the net for the first time when the Huskies play their first home game of the season at 5 p.m. tonight at Huskie Soccer Field against Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Other injuries have hindered NIU’s offensive output, the most notable being junior Bernhard Hagevik.

The Norway native, out with a severely sprained ankle, tied for seventh in the MAC with 13 points and led NIU with six goals last season. Hagevik is off his crutches and putting weight on his foot, but Simmons said there is no way of telling when their top offensive threat will be able to return.

Nate Terry also fell to the injury bug when he suffered a broken collarbone in the first week of camp. Terry will stay with the team as a volunteer assistant.

Stukenberg said that NIU will need to play solid defensively, and if they are able to do so, then they will be able to put points on the board.

“It’s an artistic talent, being able to finish,” Stukenberg said. “You just have an innate ability to score.”

NIU needs to find a solution on offense quick. Their number of goals scored has decreased every season since 1999, and they haven’t been able to stop opposing offenses.

The Huskies have only found the net an average of 17 times per season since the last time the team finished over .500.

The style of offense Simmons will implement will be dictated by the Huskies next opponent.

“Against [Wisconsin]-Milwaukee we were defending more because it would hard for us to attack,” Simmons said. “We will always be aggressive on defense.”

Stukenberg couldn’t find words to express how much better everyone on the team is doing. Even Simmons wasn’t expecting the improvement NIU has shown.

“We’re a little bit further ahead than I thought we would be at this point,” Simmons said. “We’re feeding a lot of positive energy into this program.”