NIU women’s soccer coach Frank Horvat knows this weekend’s trip to Florida is going to be a major test for his Huskies.

The Huskies will spend their second weekend of the season in Miami for two games in the Florida International Classic.

Their first game will be tonight against the host school, Florida International University. Their second game will be Sunday morning against Florida Atlantic University.

The Huskies (0-1-1) have some history with FIU (1-1, 15-6 last year), as coach Frank Horvat recalls having played them twice before. The team won one of those two games. The team never has played FAU (2-1, 14-7 last year).

Horvat admits that this trip will not be a vacation.

“The heat is going to be a big factor for us because we don’t train in that and are not ready for that,” the 9-year coach said.

The Huskies are looking to improve on last weekend’s scoreless performance against Loyola. Horvat was proud of how his team played defensively in the first half of the ISU game, also last weekend, before ISU scored four goals in the second half to pull away.

“The unfortunate thing is we created a lot of very good opportunities that were dangerous, and we didn’t score any goals,” Horvat said of the Loyola game.

Horvat said the team needs to focus on what they need to do to get better this weekend.

“One is playing for a full 90 minutes, two is not having team defensive lapses and giving up an excessive amount of goals over a 40-minute period and three, we need to finish on good opportunities,” he said.

Recovering from injuries, sophomore forwards Katie Klass and Anne Roman practiced this week and are expected to see action.