The NIU soccer team will be found today licking their wounds and trying mentally to get back into the swing of things after the embarrassing 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers.

The Huskies will regroup and travel to Macomb where they will take on the Western Illinois Leathernecks. Western (4-8-1) should prove to be a cure to whatever ailed the Huskies Wednesday.

NIU owns a 12-6-0 lifetime edge over the Leathernecks and is 5-0 since Willy Roy has taken the reigns. In those five victories, Western has been shutout three times.

After being shut out by Wisconsin-Milwaukee, NIU will be happy to see Western. The Huskies have outscored WIU 17-3 over the last five seasons—three times scoring four goals or more in a match. This could prove a quick remedy to the scoring jinx the Huskies have seemed to acquire.

But playing easy teams has not exactly meant easy victories for NIU. It lost to the 3-7-2 Eastern Illinois Panthers 4-2, the 4-8 Marquette Warriors 2-1 and the 4-8 Flames of Illinois-Chicago 2-1. Things have not come easy for the Huskies.

If they would have won all of the matches that they were expected to win, they would be in the thick of things for the Mid-Continent Conference race behind leaders Wisconsin Green-Bay and Wright State.

The 5-9-1 Huskies will try and improve their conference record to 3-4-1. They still have a shot at a .500 conference record, a small consolation after this disappointing season, but they could end the season with some pride. Wednesday’s loss sealed a losing season for NIU.

The Huskies will be going into the day without leading scorer and tri-captain Dave Weichman who will be sitting out a one-match suspension for picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.

They will be relying on fellow tri-captain Jay Konrad to recover from an eye injury sustained Wednesday and head the defense into top shape. Hopefully they will be able to shake off their poor performance against UWM and regroup.

The Huskies will have a week off and then they will play their season finale at home on Nov. 1 at the practice field against Mid-Continent Conference foe Cleveland State. The Vikings are 2-10-1 on the season with a 1-2 conference record.

On the other hand, the Huskies have beaten second-place Wright State 2-1 and defending Big Ten champion Wisconsin by a score of 2-1.