CHICAGO — The Chicago State men's soccer team faced off Thursday night against the Northern Illinois Huskies and lost 3-1.
In the first half of the match, both Huskies and the Cougars found themselves attacking frequently however neither team finding the back of the net.
It wasn't until the 42nd minute mark when the Huskies finally broke through to lead 1-0 and lead the Cougars heading into halftime.
In the second half, the Cougars began with beautiful passing play, which ultimately led to a swift finish from Niall Reid-Stephen at the 57th minute mark to tie it all up 1-1.
Nonetheless, the Huskies quickly bounced back as Enrique Banuelos scored just two minutes later, at the 59th-minute mark, to retain the lead at 2-1.
The Cougars pushed forward many times to attempt a tying goal however were unsuccessful.
After a few missed opportunities, NIU's Miguel Maynez Jr. converted a 79th-minute penalty kick opportunity to extend the Huskies' lead to 3-1, which ended up as the final score.
The Cougars remain in Chicago to take on Akron on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep.
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. In 1991, the Chicago State women's tennis team became the first all-black college team to amass an unbeaten season at the NCAA level. 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, also making 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. Chicago State volleyball recorded a historic season in 2021, with Yanlis Feliz becoming CSU's first volleyball All-American and head coach Tony Trifonov earning selection as WAC Coach of the Year. During that same season, three different CSU teams earned victories over Big Ten opponents with men's soccer beating Northwestern, women's basketball upending Wisconsin and volleyball, which established a school record 17 wins and hosted a post-season volleyball tournament for the first time in program history, swept Indiana in Bloomington.
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