Nakazawa Scores in Raiders' Loss to NIU

Saturday, September 26

Dayton, OH

6 PM

Wright State University

3-6-1, 2-2-0

Northern Illinois

5-3-1, 2-1-1

Team	1	2	Final F
NIU	2	0	2
Wright St.	1	0	1

Photo by: Addyson Olsen

9/26/2026 9:15:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

DAYTON – The Wright State men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to NIU Saturday evening at Alumni Field.

Wright State (3-6-1, 2-2 HL) will take the short trip down south to take on Northern Kentucky on Wednesday, October 7. First touch in Highland Heights is slated for 7 p.m.

NIU struck first in the 14th minute when Katai Mukuka scored off an assist from Kevin Rodriguez to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

The Raiders answered less than 10 minutes later. Cairo Duarte played a pass to Keiji Nakazawa, who found the back of the net in the 24th minute for his first goal of the season to level the match at 1-1.

NIU regained the lead in the 40th minute when Vance Sheffield converted a penalty kick, giving the Huskies a 2-1 advantage heading into halftime.

Wright State faced an uphill battle after Josyah Nozil was issued a straight red card in the 45th minute, forcing the Raiders to play the entire second half down a man.

Despite the disadvantage, Wright State continued to battle in the second half. Alex Normandeau made five second-half saves to keep the Raiders within one goal, while the defense held NIU scoreless over the final 45 minutes.

Nakazawa recorded the lone Raider goal, while Duarte picked up the assist. Normandeau finished with five saves while playing all 90 minutes in goal.

In the box score, NIU held advantages in shots (11-10), shots on goal (7-3) and corner kick opportunities (8-4). Wright State recorded 10 shots despite playing the second half with 10 men.