If the NIU soccer team couldn’t beat Eastern Illinois or Illinois-Chicago, how could it be expected to beat defending Big Ten Conference and 1991 NCAA Tournament participant University of Wisconsin?

Well, the Huskies weren’t. However, NIU pulled out a 2-1 come-from-behind victory Wednesday at the Huskie Practice Field to end the Badgers’ undefeated streak at five matches.

The comeback was sparked by none other than tri-captain Dave Weichman, who increased his team lead in points to 10.

Wisconsin opened the scoring five minutes into the match as freshman Mike Gentile blasted a one-hop 21-yarder past NIU goalkeeper Jeff McCall.

The shot surprised the Huskie defense as the ball skipped past several players who probably could have deflected it.

But McCall and the defense sharpened things up, as that would be all the scoring the Badgers would get for the match.

About a minute later, Weichman was tripped by Badger goalkeeper Tim Deck on a breakaway, which resulted in a penalty kick. As usual, Weichman converted. He is now five-for-six this season in penalty shots.

From there on, defense was the name of the game, as most of the action took place in the middle of the field. Then, near the end of the first half, the ball fell into the hands of Robert Pavljasevic who fed Nathan Mitchell streaking up the side. Mitchell succeeded in running around a defender to find Andy Lane open in front of the net for what turned out to be the winning goal.

Then, in the second half, reality sunk in as the Badgers seemed to regroup to their regular form. NIU found itself playing too much defense, but head coach Willy Roy gave Wisconsin credit by saying, “These guys are not a bad team. (Wisconsin head coach) Jim Launder does a great job. They are very professional.”

The game could have been broken wide open by the Huskies but offsides calls ended several breakaways. Lane and Michael Defort, playing forward instead of his usual defensive spot, were called at least six times for offsides on some very close calls.

Roy gave credit to the whole team for the victory, which puts the season record at 2-7-1. As he said, “I will not single out one person.”

Roy, however, did mention that the presence of his dogs, Rowdy and Heidi, gave NIU the edge as they growled when being introduced to the Badgers.