BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — In a Land of Lincoln battle, the Chicago State men's soccer team (2-4-1) fell to the Northern Illinois Huskies (7-1), 3-0.
"Today wasn't good enough, and that starts with me," head coach Trevor Banks said. "I didn't have this team ready. I didn't display our gameplan enough to the group, and you could see that with the way we played.
"If we want to have any shot at competing for a WAC title, I have to be better as the leader of this group. We are walking away still believing in what we are doing, but we will get back to the drawing board and prepare for conference play this weekend."
The match was the Cougars' first home competition since September 6 after a road swing that featured trips to both Xavier and Michigan.
Early in the match, at the 2:52 mark, the Huskies struck first. Off an Adrian Corona corner kick, Northern Illinois' Enrique Banuelos headed in a goal to the upper part of the net to pull the Huskies ahead.
Two minutes later, the Huskies scored on another corner — from the opposite side — with Corona feeding Anthony Markanich for another header score to make it 2-0.
At the 27th minute, NIU's Nick Markanich then launched in the Huskies' third goal to make the score 3-0.
In the second half, the two teams then dueled in a scoreless 45 minutes featuring minimal offensive chances for each side, sealing the final tally at 3-0.
The Cougars return to action on Saturday at 12:00 pm against conference foe UTRGV at the SeatGeek Stadium turf field.
About Chicago State
Chicago State University Athletics is comprised of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994. Melvin Bland was the first CSU student-athlete to gain NAIA All-American status in 1974 as a wrestler. Fred Evans became the first black swimmer ever to win a national championship in 1975. CSU's women's basketball team earned a spot in the 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational and CSU's men's basketball team won the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament title and made an appearance in the CollegeInside.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Men's Outdoor Track & Field 4x100-Meter Relay team were 2019 Honorable Mention All-Americans and WAC Champions. Their feat marked the first time the Chicago State's men's track & field program was represented at the national meet.
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