Eight Northern Illinois University teams compete this week. Women’s golf kicks things off as they compete in The Johnie Imes Invitational Monday through Wednesday. Volleyball looks to extend its win streak to seven as they host Western Michigan Tuesday night. Men’s soccer heads to Madison to face Wisconsin Wednesday night while women’s soccer has a road trip at Ball State Thursday. Women’s tennis kicks its season off Friday through Sunday at the MSU Spartan Invitational. Volleyball has a quick turnaround as they head to Buffalo for a two-day doubleheader. Cross country travels south for the Live in Louisville Classic Saturday and football faces Ball State on the road Saturday. Men’s golf concludes the week Sunday through Monday at the Marquette Intercollegiate.

Football
Saturday, Oct. 1: at Ball State, 1 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Audio | Live Stats

The NIU football team begins the defense of its MAC title Saturday when it travels to Ball State in the Battle for the Bronze Stalk. The Huskies regained the Bronze Stalk last season after John Richardson’s 32-yard field goal as time expired gave NIU a 30-29 lead over the Cardinals. NIU took #8 Kentucky to the wire last week but lost to the Wildcats 31-23. The defense held Kentucky to under 100 yards rushing and had five sacks in the game. Linebacker Daveren Rayner was named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week after having 10 tackles, including a sack, against Kentucky. Punter Tom Foley earned Special Teams Player of the Week honors after averaging over 47 yards per punt with three inside the 20-yard line. A full preview will be available on NIUHuskies.com later in the week.

Volleyball
Tuesday, Sept. 27: vs. Western Michigan, 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats
Friday, Sept. 30: at Buffalo, 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats
Saturday, Oct. 1: at Buffalo, 1 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats

Riding its longest win streak since 2016, the NIU volleyball team looks to keep its momentum going as they host Western Michigan Tuesday evening at Victor E. Court. The match, which will broadcast live on ESPN+, is set to begin at 6 p.m. The Huskies are coming off a two-win weekend after hosting the Akron Zips last Friday and Saturday. NIU swept the Zips in straight sets in each match to improve to 9-3 overall. Charli Atiemo led the Huskies on offense with 23 kills (3.83/set) through the two matches while Sammi Lockwood was stout on the defensive side of the court after tallying nine blocks (1.5/set). Ella Mihacevich posted 66 assists (11/set) and extended her streak of 30+ assist performances 10-straight.

Men’s Golf
Sunday and Monday, Oct. 2-3: at Marquette Intercollegiate – Live Scoring

NIU Men’s Golf is back in action October 2-3 at the Marquette Intercollegiate at Milwaukee Country Club. Sophomore Ben Sluzas was the Huskies’ top finisher at last weekend’s William H. Tucker Intercollegiate at New Mexico, tying for 45th. After an opening round 78, Sluzas carded back-to-back even par rounds of 72 to finish at six-over for the tournament. Four of Sluzas’ five rounds to start the season have been even par or lower. Luc Warnock and Tommy Dunsire both finished in the top-30 at last year’s Marquette Intercollegiate at Erin Hills.

Men’s Soccer
Wednesday, Sept. 28: at Wisconsin, 7 p.m. – BTN+ | Live Stats
Sunday, Oct. 2: at Akron, 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats

A pair of road games await the NIU men’s soccer team this week as they travel to Wisconsin on Wednesday (Sept. 28) and Akron on Sunday (Oct. 2). The Huskies enter the week with a 3-3-2 record after suffering a setback on the road at Western Michigan in their conference opener last Friday (Sept. 28). Wednesday’s game against Wisconsin is the first regular season meeting between the Huskies and Badgers since 2010. Wisconsin comes into the match with a 3-4 record under first-year head coach Neil Jones. Akron is 4-2-2 overall after falling at Penn State, 1-0, on Sunday (Sept. 25), the Zips entered last week ranked 15th in the United Soccer Coaches national rankings.

Women’s Soccer
Thursday, Sept. 29: at Ball State, 3 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats
Sunday, Oct. 2: vs. Central Michigan, 1 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats

Coming off a 2-0 victory at Toledo on Sunday (Sept. 25), the NIU women’s soccer team will be back on the road on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 29) as it travels to Ball State. Kierah Meier and Reegan Kingpavong each found the back of the net and Deighton Wamer made six saves in the shutout win over the Rockets. The Huskies improved to 4-3-2 with the victory at Toledo, all four of NIU’s wins this season have come away from home. Ball State enters Thursday’s game with a 2-3-4 overall record, including a 1-0-1 mark in conference play. Following the trip to Muncie, NIU returns home to host Central Michigan on Sunday (Oct. 2), the Chippewas are currently 1-6-2, 0-1-1 in the league.

Cross Country
Saturday, Oct. 1: at Live in Louisville Classic – Live Video | Live Results

The NIU cross country team will head to Louisville, Ky., on Saturday (Oct. 1) to compete in the 21st Annual Live in Lou Cross Country Classic at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park. One of the largest meets in the country, the Live in Lou Classic features six different collegiate races, with three men’s and three women’s competitions. The Huskies will be running in the women’s gold race, scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. Last time out, two Huskies finished in the top-10 at the Tom Hoffman Invitational, Brooke Valentine turned in a sixth-place finish while Joy Jackson claimed ninth.

Women’s Golf
Monday-Wednesday, Sept. 26-28: at The Johnie Imes Invitational – Live Scoring

Women’s golf continues its fall season at The Johnie Imes Invitational Sept. 26-28 at the Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Mo. The team is coming off a 33-over 885 performance at the Coeur D’Alene Collegiate Invitational where Jasmine Ly paced the team at 5-over 128 and tied for 21st. Last year, the Huskies took seventh out of a field of 14 teams in The Johnie Imes Invitational. Ly tied for fourth and was 4-under 212 to lead NIU.

Women’s Tennis
Friday-Sunday, Sept. 30–Oct. 1: at MSU Spartan Invitational

Coach Eric Burns‘ squad opens the fall tournament season at the MSU Spartan Invitational with nine players traveling to East Lansing to compete in the flighted tournament against players from Michigan, Notre Dame, DePaul and host Michigan State, as well as MAC foes Toledo, Bowling Green and Western Michigan, among others. The Huskies posted a 17-11 dual match record last spring to earn its most dual match wins in 31 years and do not return a senior in 2022-23. The veteran group is led by juniors Diana Lukyanova (Moscow, Russia) and Anastasia Rakita (Moscow Russia) and sophomore Erika Dimitriev (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/North Toronto Collegiate) while the signing class of newcomers – McKenna Chudy (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Trabuco Hills HS), Lauren Littell (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS), Jenna Horne (Glenview, IL- Glenbrook South HS), Isabella Righi (Palma de Mallorca, Spain/IES Centre De Tecnificacio Esportiva IB) and Nataly Miroslavova Ninova (Palma de Mallorca, Spain- IES Centre De Tecnificacio Esportiva IB) – was ranked 36th nationally by Tennisrecruiting.net last spring.  A recap of the tournament action will be posted on NIUHuskies.com Sunday.