Sept. 20, 2009

Box Score

Final Stats

DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois women's soccer team grabbed its second straight win Sunday, when goals from Micaela Damas and Nici Newquist lifted the Huskies to a 2-1 victory over Liberty (1-6-0) at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex.

The Huskies recorded their first goal of the game when Damas (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley North) crossed the ball through defenders to Newquist (DeKalb, Ill./Sycamore), setting her up for the goal. Newquist cleared the ball over Liberty's goalkeeper, Karen Blocker, to hit the center of the net with 8:51 left in the first half.

In the 39th minute of play, the Huskies added to their lead when Shelbi Johnson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Neuqua Valley) crossed the ball to Damas, who hit the right corner of the net to record her first career goal.

"We had opportunities to score and we were able to finish all of them," head coach Carrie Barker said. "The players contributed all around the field, and it truly was a great team effort all around today."

The Huskies held the Flames to a scoreless first half, but after 67 minutes of play Liberty's Silvia Betancourt cleared the ball over NIU defenders to score the Flames lone goal of the afternoon.

The contest remained fairly even with Liberty recording nine shots to the Huskies eight, and NIU earning four saves to Liberty's three. The Huskies held a 2-0 advantage in cornerkicks in the match.

"We played great today," said Barker. "Our game is exactly where we want to be at this point and it is great to go into conference play the way we are playing."

The Huskies will enter Mid-American Conference schedule next weekend with a 4-4-0 record and 2-1-0 home mark. MAC play will begin when the Huskies host Bowling Green Friday, at 4 p.m., and will continue at home as NIU takes on Toledo in a 1 p.m. match-up Sunday.