A young roster. Potential at running back. Questions at wide receiver. Here are five key storylines heading into the start of NIU's camp Friday.

Tryouts Saturday run from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. for the 10-and-under, 12U and 14U teams. The 16U and 18U teams go from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.

“We challenged these guys mentally by getting them up at 6 a.m. for an entire summer,” Burno said. “We work them pretty hard off and on the court. And these guys have definitely met the challenge.”

“From the start we all came together,” said Jenna Lewey, who plays for NIU after graduating from Sycamore. “From our first few practices and our first game we clicked really well. Everybody was on the same page. It helps that a lot of us have played together at some point in our careers but also the new people have come in and stepped it up.”

“They were hungrier than we were. There’s no secret about that,” Gecan said. “They wanted to win more. [Reyes], you could see it in his eyes. He was going to get some goals. We didn’t have a guy that wanted it that much today unfortunately. Hopefully that will change going forward.”

DeKALB - The DeKalb County United women’s under-23 team gave up four goals in a 13-minute stretch, falling to the Chicago Mustangs 5-2 Saturday in a friendly before heading off to an invitational championship tournament in Iowa next week to conclude its season.

“Unfortunately, I think (the NCAA) opened up Pandora’s box and didn’t have a whole lot of rules and regulations in place,” NIU head coach Thomas Hammock said.

Coming off a shortened 0-6 season, NIU was projected to finish last in the MAC West in a preseason media poll taken Tuesday at MAC Media Day in Detroit.

“I broke a lot of barriers, especially coming back after a COVID season,” Long said. “It was one of those seasons the competition was tough no matter what because you had a lot of super seniors coming back. But I ran lifetime bests in all my races, got in the top 10 in all my events so it went really well. And I also made it into the first round of the NCAAs for the first time in my career. So it was nice.”