Good teams battle through adversity, and the NIU men’s soccer team took a step in the right direction by doing just that this weekend.

After surrendering two goals in the last seven minutes Friday in a 3-2 loss at Akron, the Huskies traveled to Bowling Green State University and responded with a 1-0 triumph over the

Falcons Sunday for their first win since Sept. 18.

The victory brought a four-match losing streak to an end and was the Huskies’ first MAC win in four tries this season. The Huskies improved to 3-7-0 overall.

“When you look at the schedule and you see road games at Akron and Bowling Green State, you should be happy with a split,” coach Willie Roy said. “We feel like we should have won both games, but we’ll take a split. Maybe it can ignite our team and give us confidence for the rest of the season.”

Junior Peter Agrimson accounted for the scoring Sunday as he converted a penalty kick in the 69th minute against BGS goalkeeper David DeGraff.

Despite facing four corner kicks and seeing the Falcons outshoot his Huskies 13-8, junior goalkeeper Rasih Pala recorded his second shutout of the season.

“This is definitely a big win for this team,” Roy said. “We played very well today, but to beat a team like Bowling Green State on the road is special. The defense played solid today. Peter [Agrimson], Jason Sullivan and Brandon Smick did a great job of controlling play in the back and Rasih made a couple of big saves.”

It was a different story Friday as the Zips improved to 3-0-0 in the MAC.

Junior Nick Park and senior Phil Diehl scored consecutive second-half goals to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead, but the Zips tied the match with a successful penalty kick in the 84th minute and scored the match-winning goal two minutes later.

“For 85 minutes, we were in good shape,” Roy said. “When you’re winning 2-1 in a big game on the road, you have to pull that game out. Akron is a good team but we had a chance to win this one and couldn’t do it. Good teams find a way to win a game like this on the road.

“The effort is there, but we made key mistakes and that cost us the game.”

The Huskies look for their first winning streak of the season Thursday when they travel to UIC to take on the Flames.