NIU soccer winning with area players

If you're Steve Simmons, you could certainly recruit nationwide. After all, the Northern Illinois men's soccer coach is quietly building one of the emerging programs in the nation.

But when your recruiting backyard is suburban Chicago, why look tremendously far afield for the bulk of your roster?

And if you can pluck a Kyle Knotek from Geneva and Drew Jeskey and Luis Mojica from St. Charles, then you're certainly well-justified in keeping most recruiting trips as day excursions.

"The talent level in the Chicagoland area is enormous," Simmons said. "The thing is that everybody else in the country knows it too. It's our obligation to let the fantastic student-athletes there know that there's a world-class experience that's a half-hour or 45 minutes away."

A year ago, NIU went 15-6-1, advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament and played perennial power Indiana to a standstill before losing 1-0.

This year, the Huskies have hit a bump or two -- and stand 2-3-3 heading into today's contest at Wisconsin. But with the entire Mid-American Conference schedule still ahead, no one is considering writing off the campaign after one-third of the season played.

"To win 15 games is difficult back to back," Simmons said. "It's going to be a different script this year and we'll do it the way we need to do it. I think, result-wise, we're a little disappointed. We'll get to where we want to go. It may not be in the grand style we did it with last year. But we'll do it."

Part of the reason for Simmons' confidence is his local products. Knotek was one of the area's hot prospects coming out of Geneva High School. The thing is, as highly-touted as he was, Knotek never shied away from the dirty work, the unselfish runs that allowed others to star.

"He does catch a person's eye," Simmons said. "He's a very energetic player and he does a tremendous amount of work. Those high level kids from the area are our bread and butter."

And the appeal for Knotek, a sophomore, was the school's proximity to his home.

"A big factor for me was that I love it when my parents come to games," Knotek said. "Some kids want to go farther away. I felt I could reach a place of being independent and still keep in touch with my parents. It means a lot to have them there and supporting me."

There are many area parents making the trek to DeKalb to watch their children compete. From the plethora of women's soccer players from the Tri-Cities through Marmion grad Larry English on the football team to West Aurora all-everything Kim Hunley, who is a women's golfer at NIU, the Huskies have local talent in abundance.

"One of the things about having so many local kids is that our fan base is fantastic," Simmons said. "Right now, you look at our roster, and it's 75-80 percent Chicago kids. It'll stay that way."

Jeskey, a junior, comes from Huskie bloodlines -- both parents are NIU grads. A product of Sockers F.C. club program, Jeskey did not play soccer at St. Charles East. Though high school fans did not see him, college coaches were well aware of his talent.

"We demonstrated to (Jeskey) and his parents that we had something special going on," Simmons said. "Similar to (Knotek), if you factor in his heart and determination, he is our ultimate guy in the trenches."

Mojica, a freshman, is just breaking into the team. As Simmons says, he's a "piano player," not a "piano carrier." But he's firmly in the team's plans.

"It's amazing what a year of lifting and maturing will do for just about any player, including Luis," Simmons said.

At the start of the season, the Huskies were on the national ranking radar. They have had solid matches, such as a 0-0 tie at Notre Dame and another 1-0 loss to Indiana. But there is literally everything still to play for.

"The MAC this year is going to be amazing," Knotek said.

However they fare, they'll do it with local products, including three area athletes who are proving that the Northern Way is a pathway through Chicagoland.