This Week in Huskie Athletics NIU will have eight teams in action. NIU football will head on the road to take on Ball State for the Bronze Stalk Trophy at 2:30 on Saturday. NIU volleyball will take on WMU on the road at 5 p.m.  on Tuesday before returning home to host Ball State on Friday and Saturday. NIU women’s soccer will be on the road against Ball State on Thursday and then head home for a Sunday Senior Day matchup at 1 p.m. against Toledo. NIU men’s soccer heads to Nashville to take on Belmont at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night. NIU men’s golf will head to the Bahamas to compete in the White Sands Collegiate starting Friday. NIU men’s tennis and women’s tennis will compete at the Indoor MAC Championships. NIIU Men’s tennis will compete in Kalamazoo while NIU women’s tennis will head to Oxford, Ohio. NIU wrestling will host the Red-Black intrasquad meet in the Convocation Center at 7 p.m. on Friday.

 Football

Saturday, Oct. 19: at Ball State, 2:30 p.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats | Listen

The Huskies look to get back in the win column on Saturday as they head to Muncie, Ind. to take on the Ball State Cardinals. Kickoff is at 2:30 pm with the game telecast on ESPN+. NIU looks to reclaim the Bronze Stalk trophy after the Cardinals have won the last two games in the series. The Huskies outgained Toledo by over 100 yards of offense last Saturday but could not find the end zone in a 13-6 loss. The NIU defense continues to excel in 2024, leading the nation in third down defense at 19.5 percent. NIU is also third in the nation in total defense at 258.3 yards per game. Each of the last six games for the Bronze Stalk have been decided by eight points or less. A full preview will be available on NIUHuskies.com later this week.

 Volleyball

Tuesday, Oct. 22 at Western Michigan, 5 p.m. –  ESPN+ | Live Stats

Friday, Oct. 25 vs Ball State, 6 p.m. –   ESPN+ | Live Stats

Saturday, Oct. 26 vs Ball State, 4 p.m. –   ESPN+ |  Live Stats

The Huskies will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. for a midweek match on Oct. 22 against the Broncos of Western Michigan before returning to Victor E. Court on Oct. 25 and 26 as they host Ball State for a two-game series.

Inching ever closer to a milestone, Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) is 42 kills away from passing the 1,000-career kill mark. Crew Hoffmeier (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) is in the top-15 in the nation for digs per set and in the top-25 in the nation for total digs. Hoffmeier leads the Huskies and the MAC with 5.06 digs per set.

Women’s Soccer

Thursday, Oct. 24: at Ball State, 3 p.m. CT –   ESPN+ |  Live Stats

Sunday, Oct. 27: vs Toledo, 1 p.m. –  Watch | Live Stats

NIU women’s soccer will be in action twice this week. On Thursday the Huskies will head to Indiana for a 3 p.m. kickoff with Ball State. NIU will be back home at the NIU Soccer Complex on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m. to host Toledo on Senior Day. NIU will be celebrating seven Huskies for their final home game.

Last week the Huskies took Eastern Michigan down 2-1 on Friday. NIU was trailing at the halftime break and goals from Isabel Struble and Abby Zipse flipped the script on the Eagles.

With three games remaining in MAC play the Huskies have nine points and sit in eighth in the standings. NIU is currently two points behind Toledo, Kent State and Bowling Green and needs to be in the top six to compete in the MAC Tournament.

 Men’s Soccer

Friday, October 25: at Belmont, 6:30 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats

The Huskies men’s soccer team heads to Nashville, Tenn., for a Friday night matchup against Belmont, with both teams still having an opportunity to qualify for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. NIU is coming off a 2-1 setback on Homecoming Saturday (Oct. 19) against Evansville. Sam Divis scored his second goal in as many games to pull the Huskies level before the Purple Aces got a winning goal with just five minutes remaining.

Belmont brings a 4-7-3 overall record into Friday night’s contest, including a 1-4-1 mark in league play. The Bruins earned a 1-0 victory at UIC last time out (Oct. 18), Nate Mefford scored the game-winner for Belmont. NIU won last season’s meeting against Belmont, 1-0, behind seven saves from Jakub Rojek (Oct. 22, 2023).

 Men’s Golf

Friday, Oct. 25 – Sunday, Oct. 27 at White Sands Collegiate (Paradise Island, Bahamas)

The NIU men’s golf team wraps up its fall slate this weekend at the White Sands Intercollegiate, hosted by West Virginia at The Ocean Club Golf Course at Paradise Island, Bahamas. The Huskies were last in action on Oct. 1, winning the Badger Invitational at Wisconsin by three strokes over Long Beach State and Wisconsin. Senior Felix Krammer was named MAC Golfer of the Week for his second-place finish in the tournament. He started out with an eight-under par 64 that tied the NIU single-round scoring record. Krammer finished seven-under par for the event. NIU posted the lowest team score in the final round, a four-over par 292, to vault from third place to the top spot. The Huskies last played in the Bahamas in 2019 when they finished 11^th. Jordan Less finished in second place individually with a 54-hole score of 14-under par 202.

 Men’s Tennis

Thursday, Oct. 24 – Sunday, Oct. 27 at MAC Indoor Championships (Kalamazoo, Mich.)

NIU men’s tennis will compete at the MAC Indoor Championships starting Thursday. The Huskies will look to continue their success this fall after a strong showing at the ITA Regional Championship two weeks ago. Iker Gaztambide Arrastia made it to the consolation semifinals while the duo of Saul Berdullas and Sam Klein fought their way through to the round of 15 in doubles. Arrastia won the topflight at two tournaments this fall. He first won the River Forest Collegiate Invitational on Sept. 14 and then the Toledo Invitational on Sept. 22.

 Women’s Tennis

Thursday, Oct. 24 – Sunday, Oct. 27 at MAC Indoor Championships (Oxford, Ohio)

The Huskies’ Erika Dimitriev and Nataly Ninova will represent NIU at the MAC Indoor Championships this weekend at the Riverside Country Club in Hamilton, Ohio.  Each Mid-American Conference women’s tennis team will send two singles players and one doubles team to the tournament which consists of a draw of 16 players in singles and eight doubles teams. Dimitriev and Ninova will play doubles together in addition to competing in the singles draw. Singles begin on Thursday with doubles play getting underway Friday. The winners will advance to the ITA Masters Tournament in Rome, Georgia.

Wrestling

Friday, Oct. 25: Red-Black Intrasquad Dual, 7 p.m.

The 2024-25 schedule for the Northern Illinois University Huskies wrestling program kicks off with the annual Red-Black dual on October 25. The Huskies will split into two squads for an intrasquad dual as fans are able to get their first look at the Huskies. The Huskies welcome 16 new student-athletes to the team this season. The signing class includes five transfers and 11 true freshmen from across the Midwest.

Recapping from the 2023-24 season, NIU finished the season with a 13-2 record, going undefeated at home for the first time in over 20 years, and earned the MAC West Division title. Both Blake West and Jacob Brya who qualified for the NCAA tournament are set to return for the Huskies in 2024-25.