MACOMB, Ill. ? Nikola Katic recorded his first career goal as Western Illinois fell to Western Michigan 2-1, Sunday.

Katic (Mikarska, Croatia/Illinois Central College) tied the game in the 50th minute with a header inside the box. Jona Andrade (Miami, Fla./Sunset Senior) picked up the assist on the play, which was his second of the season.

The Leathernecks (3-2-1) played catch up after giving up a first half goal to the Broncos (3-3-0) forward Trevor McEnroe in the 32nd minute of the game. Western Illinois was able to hold strong going into the break and came out aggressive in the second half, tying the game on their first shot of the second half.

Two minutes after the game was tied, Western Michigan scored the game winning goal from Terry Dowding, with Ko Yamamoto picking up the assist on the play.

“I thought we gave an honest effort today,” said head coach Dr. Eric Johnson. “They stepped up and you have to be happy about that. You want your guys to play hard and that's the number one thing.”

Western Illinois played the aggressor early on by firing the first three shots of the game, none of which landed on goal. Western Michigan added two shots in the opening period, the second one being the first goal of the game.

In the second half, the Leathernecks became the aggressors again, taking seven shots to the Bronco's two.

“It's frustrating not to win the game,” added Johnson. “I thought we were better in the second half and out shot them quite a bit. I thought we took some chances but we didn't finish. Then to give it up after you tie it, it's hard to come back from that. As I said at the beginning of this season, this team is going to take a little while to put it together because we got a lot of new guys. We are still figuring these guys out and seeing who they are and where they can play for us.”

Western Illinois has little time to look over this game as they have one day off before their next game.

“We'll move forward now. I know the guys are discouraged, but we haven't quit yet. The big picture: is can we be ready for conference games? We have three games to get ready to that point.”

Western Illinois travels to Chicago to battle the UIC Flames, Tuesday at 7 p.m.