The NIU men’s soccer team was defeated Thursday in St. Louis largely because of nervousness.

On Sunday, mental mistakes were the story in Normal as the Illinois State University Redbirds dealt the Huskies their second consecutive shutout, 4-0.

ISU sophomore midfielder Milo Iniguez had two goals and an assist as the Redbirds handily defeated the Huskies at Adelaide Street Field.

The Huskies’ offense was stymied in the first half as NIU was held to only three shots whereas ISU had three goals.

Coach Willy Roy said that “unbelievable mental mistakes” and “miscommunication” were the keys to the four-goal loss. For the second game in a row senior defenseman Dave Weichman had a subpar performance and goalkeeper Danny Green lost his starting job after being pulled in favor of Jeff McCall.

“McCall was very vocal in goal and will now start,” explained Roy, apparently upset with Green’s lack of communication in the net.

Roy was pleased with the play of his team to a point. He felt that the individual efforts from his squad were outstanding, with plays like Ken Hoffman and Andy Lane breakaways, but they did not play together as a team. Roy was “disappointed” with the play of some of the older players and was eager to substitute the freshmen for them.

“We need to get the cobwebs out of our heads and start playing as a team,” Roy said.

Roy gave the Redbirds credit by saying, “They are better than us but individual lack of concentration costs you.” He is concerned about the chemistry of the team, which he described as “not working”. Next up for the Huskies is a trip to Chicago Wednesday at DePaul University.