Aug. 26, 2011

BOX SCORE

DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois women’s soccer team took on South Dakota State in its opening match of the NIU Tourney. The Huskies held the Jackrabbits scoreless in the second half of play, but fell 3-0 in the match after letting in three SDSU goals in the first half.

“We were obviously disspointed with today’s result,” said Head Coach Carrie Barker, “we wanted to come out better in our home opener. But we are going to come out harder on Sunday and improve.”

The NIU defense closed the Jacks passing lanes in the midfield and did not allow SDSU into the box on many occasions. Solid defensive play from sophmore Lauren Solomon and great man-marking from Shelbi Johnson were keys to the Huskies success in the second half as the team only surrendered one shot on goal.

Senior captain Meaghan Bennett started the second half of play and made one save in the final 45 minutes. In the 69th minute of action, Jackrabbitt forward Hannah Phillips chased a ball into the box and set up for the shot, but a charging Bennett made a sliding kick save to clear the threat and allow the Huskie defense to regroup.

Offensively, sophomore Corrine Frankenberg had three great scoring chances in match, two of which were one-versus-one with the goalkeeper, but was unable to finish and pushed the shots wide of the posts on the roll.

South Dakota State struck first blood in the sixth minute, when Christa Nyblom fired a shot off the right-corner of the crossbar that ricocheted down and passed the end line for the goal. The second goal also bounced off the crossbar, but was headed into the net by Kelsey Ferguson in the 12th minute. The third was put away by Kayla Braffet.

The Huskies will return to action Sunday afternoon for the final day of the NIU Tourney, taking on North Dakota at 1:30 p.m. UND lost earlier in the day to Western Michigan to a similar 3-0 score.

MATCH NOTES:
South Dakota State only outshot NIU 10-9 … The Jackrabbits outfouled the Huskies 8-1 … Senior Becca Ford, a native of DeKalb, posted two shots on net and worked the Huskies possession through the pitch with her high work rate of play.