The NIU lacrosse club hosted its Fifth Annual Fall Classic over the weekend and had to settle for second place after running into a talented club from the University of Wisconsin.

“I am pleased with our record; 7-2 is very respectable,” said club coach Marshall Kite. “The team was highly disappointed with the loss to Wisconsin.

“However, that is how you get better as a team by playing clubs with a little better stick skills than you. We realized that there is always a team out there that is better than you and you cannot underestimate anybody.”

In defense of the Huskies, Wisconsin’s team is comprised of half students and half alumni, which tends to give the Badgers an unfair advantage. Wisconsin took the title 12-1 as it received strong goaltending and attack play. Dave Rask tallied the lone goal for NIU.

NIU had an interesting path to the title game. On Saturday, the Huskies received a bye because the University of Kansas failed to show for their opening match.

This gave the Huskies a berth in the semifinals where they

punished their biggest rival. The University of Illinois was hammered by the Huskies 8-4.

“We came to play and they didn’t,” said team member Bill Polasky. “We surprised them last time with our zone defense but they were prepared for that this time. There were no surprises, and our defense played outstanding on man down.”

The defense, led by Matt Crawford and Paul Michaels, did not allow a man-down goal in the second half. Offensive bright spots included Joe Curtis, Mike Klappenbach and Brady Houston who each tallied twice. Single-goal scorers included Rich Fantozzi and Torin Hoffernen.

Illinois won on Sunday over Marquette to take third. The loss dropped Marquette to fifth. Illinois State beat Iowa to take fourth and the loss dropped the Hawkeyes to sixth. Wisconsin-Whitewater lost both of its games to place seventh, and Kansas managed eighth place without even playing a match.

Next up for NIU is a home match with a men’s club team from Chicago called Windy City. The match is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday at the field north of the Stevenson Towers parking lot.