NIU Tallies Fourth Straight Victory
Friday’s Scoreboard
Northern Illinois 2, Eastern Illinois 0
SIUE 1, St. Louis 1
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Northern Illinois 2, Eastern Illinois 0
Box Score
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Freshmen Anthony Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) and Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) each found the back of the net as the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team earned its fourth consecutive victory, and third-straight shutout, with a 2-0 win at Eastern Illinois on Friday afternoon.
The four-game winning streak is NIU's longest since winning four-straight late in the 2011 season (Nov. 5-17, 2011). The last time the Huskies recorded three consecutive clean sheets came during the 2012 campaign (Oct. 20-27, 2012).
"We were sharp, we moved the ball pretty well and created chances early in the game," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We stuck to the game plan for the entire 90 minutes and scored two very good goals. Once again, we limited the number of chances that our opponent had."
NIU (6-2) was on the front-foot from the opening kickoff as the Huskies earned a corner inside the first four minutes and junior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) tested Eastern Illinois goalkeeper Jonathan Burke from that initial set piece.
The Huskies were a goal to the good just past the quarter-hour mark. Senior Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) whipped in a cross from the right wing and Anthony Markanich connected on a perfect volley from just inside the 18-yard box, beating Burke and giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.
Anthony Markanich's goal was his second of the season while the assist was the fifth of the year for Rodriguez, who leads the MAC in assists.
Just two minutes later, Rodriguez had a chance to double the NIU advantage but Burke came up with the save. In the 37th minute, Burke again stopped a chance by Maertins as the Huskies took a 1-0 lead into the interval.
Five minutes after halftime, NIU struck again with the first shot of the second 45 minutes. Sophomore Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) combined with junior Irvin Dominguez (El Paso, Texas/Richland College) to start the buildup. Dominguez played a left-footed cross into the box where Nick Markanich got on the end of it and fired a shot just inside the post for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
Senior Noah Brodie (Scottsdale, Ariz./Carbondale Community) had a chance in the 54th minute and Nick Markanich nearly had his brace in the 58th, but Burke stopped both Huskie opportunities.
Eastern Illinois (2-4-2) was limited to just three shots in the contest, none of which were on goal; Burke finished with five saves between the posts for the Panthers.
NIU will now turn its attention to the annual matchup for the LeWang Trophy against Milwaukee. The Huskies and Panthers will meet on Tuesday night, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m., in Milwaukee and the game will be available on ESPN+.
SIUE 1, St. Louis 1
Box Score
ST. LOUIS – In the revival of one of the most storied rivalries in college soccer, SIUE played Saint Louis University to a 1-1 tie in front of 4,903 fans at SLU's Robert R. Hermann Stadium.
The meeting, which was the the first regular season matchup since 1995. The Billikens retained the Joseph Carenza, Sr. trophy (Bronze Boot) by virtue of the tie.
"It was amazing for our program to be part of this," SIUE Head Coach Mario Sanchez said. "We are always striving to push our program forward. We want to be a perennial top-20 team and to do that you have to play in these games. If anything it's going to motivate our guys even more. It was a fun game, and emotional game for everybody."
SIUE moved to 4-1-2, while Saint Louis is now 3-1-3
It is the second time this season, the Cougars have gone on the road in a tough environment and came away with a draw.
"We talked about getting a result," Sanchez said. "When you get into overtime you have to be mature about it. Neither team had many chances in either overtime period and that's a sign of maturity from both teams."
The SIUE defense withstood 27 total shots from the Billikens. Saint Louis put 12 shots on target. Goalkeeper Noah Heim made a season-high nine saves.
"Full credit to SLU, they put us under a lot of pressure," Sanchez said. "In every game you play, you have to find ways to keep the ball out of the net and we definitely did that tonight.
"Johan (DePicker) was out of this world tonight," Sanchez continued. "He showed what he was capable of. Jack Edwards, a true freshman from St. Louis, had a huge game."
Lachlan McLean put the Cougars on top in in the 52nd minute following an SIUE corner kick. Several players got a head to ball, including Keegan McHugh who flicked it towards the back post. The ball fell to McLean, where he tapped in for the 1-0 advantage.
The Cougar goal came just after a flurry of Saint Louis' chances was turned away. Andre Rivers-Hardware got a shot away in the 47th minute which was saved off the post by Noah Heim. The rebound came out to Anthony Brown who slid a shot past Heim. McHugh was able to make a sliding save to clear the ball off the line. Following a Billiken corner in the 49th minute, John Klein took a shot that sailed high of the target.
Saint Louis appeared to have tied the game in the 75th minute when Anthony Brown struck a header past Heim after a cross. Instead, the goal was disallowed on an offside call.
Brown ultimately netted the equalizer in the 89th minute. Heim made a leaping save after a shot from Saint Louis' Leo Noves, and the ball hit the crossbar and came out in front of the goal. Noves played it to Brown who knotted the game.
With a minute to play in regulation time, Jorge Gonzalez was taken down in the Saint Louis box and SIUE was awarded a penalty kick. McLean hit a low hard shot but SLU goalkeeper Seth Stiebel made a diving save to his left to keep the score tied 1-1.
"He had a very good game tonight," Sanchez said of McLean. "He held the ball well. We're a different team when he plays well. He brings other guys into the play and he's dangerous."
The Cougars will next return to the road for a Tuesday night game at Valparaiso.
"We have a couple of days to recover emotionally," Sanchez said. "Right now, it's not just physical but there's the emotional side to recover from. We'll get back at it and start preparing for Valpo."
