The Northwestern men’s soccer team didn’t win a game in 2000 and won only one match in 2001.

But the tough times are now only a distant memory.

In their first seven matches this year, the Wildcats have five wins and one tie.

Sophomore Brad North scored NU’s only two goals in Sunday’s victory against Eastern Illinois and led his team to the title in Vanderbilt’s Puma Soccer Classic, the Cats’ third tournament win of the season.

North also grabbed tourney MVP honors and was named this week’s Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his weekend performance.

Still, the forward would rather give his teammates credit for the offensive show.

“I just finished the plays,” North said. “They did all the work, and I was just there.”

With a 5-1-1 record, it appears North’s team is working awfully hard. In its first away games of the season, NU held on for a 3-3 tie Friday against Vanderbilt and beat Eastern Illinois 2-1 Sunday.

The win extended the Cats’ unbeaten streak to five games, and it’s the best start in the program’s history. The team was 2-2-3 at this point last season.

NU is atop the Big Ten in goals scored and tied for first in assists.

This year’s team is more experienced than in the previous two seasons, and coach Tim Lenahan said he believes that has made his team more competitive.

“We’ve been the youngest team in the country for the past two years,” Lenahan said. “This is the third year of the rebuilding process, and we’re veteran now. We’ve still got a long way to go before we’re a good team. But grinding out some good wins here is a good start.”

NU tied the hosting Commodores 3-3 Friday. The Cats struggled in a game that was more open than the team is used to, North said. NU’s three goals allowed total was the highest of the season.

“We were just trying to control the ball, but we couldn’t,” North said. “We couldn’t get that game to settle down.”

Vanderbilt (2-3-1) opened scoring about 15 minutes into the game. NU freshman David Roth, who leads the team in assists, scored his first goal of the season less than two minutes later.

Will Nicholas and Gerardo Alvarez also scored for NU, which held a 3-2 lead until Vanderbilt scored just before the 85th minute.

“The tie was a disappointment,” North said. “We all thought we had the better team. It was close in overtime, but it just wasn’t working for us.”

NU played a tighter game in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Eastern Illinois. After scoring the game’s first goal with six seconds remaining in the first half, North netted his second less than five minutes into the next half. Eastern Ilinois’ scored a late goal, but the Cats held off the opposition.

“We had the chance to put the team away, but we did hang on barely to get the tournament,” Lenahan said.

NU’s Brad Napper, Roth, and Alvarez made the All-Tournament team this weekend.

This weekend’s tournament title was the Cats’ third of the season. NU hosted and won the North Shore and Lakeside Classics earlier in the month.

The team’s lone loss came September 4 against Butler.

Reach Courtney McCarty at [email protected]