The No. 25 University of Kentucky men’s soccer team returns to action on Sunday, Sept. 23, when they face Mid-American Conference-rival Northern Illinois in Dekalb, Ill. Action gets underway at noon.

UK (3-2-1, 1-0-0 MAC) is coming off a 3-1 triumph over Western Michigan in the teams’ league opener. J.D. Stephenson, who scored two goals on penalty kicks, paced the Wildcats in the win, and Antti Peltonen tallied the game-winner, his first goal of the season, off a John Monebrake pass. Monebrake’s assist was his first of the season and pushed him into the team lead in points with seven.

The Huskies (2-4-0, 0-0-0 MAC) dropped a tough match, 1-0, to Loyola-Chicago on Friday. Bruce Conrad leads the way for NIU with five points (two goals, one assist), while Andrew Conti and Peter Agrimson are not far behind with four points each. In goal, Rasih Pala has played every minute surrendering 11 goals for a 1.83 goals-against average with one shutout.

Kentucky and NIU have met six times in their history, with the Cats holding the 5-1-0 advantage. In the team’s last meeting, the Cats topped the Huskies 1-0 in the opening round of the 2000 MAC tournament.