The Northern Illinois University women’s soccer team was unable to capitalize on an early lead over the Ohio Bobcats on Thursday, falling 3-1 at the NIU Soccer and Track and Field Complex.
“I’m disappointed with the result”, head coach Michael O’Neill said. “I thought we were very good in the first 20 minutes. Ohio took the chances that they got, to be fair to them, and we did work until the very end and fought very hard.”
NIU (3-5-2, x-x-x MAC) got out to a quick start after the Huskies earned a corner kick in the first two minutes. Sophomore midfielder Aubrey Robertson (Fishers, Ind, / Fishers) took the corner kick and put it perfectly into the far corner of the net and out of the reach of Ohio’s goalie Celeste Sloma to put NIU ahead 1-0.
“I don’t know if she (Robertson) meant to do that or not, off a straight direct corner kick,” O’Neill said. “It was nice for her to put the ball in a good area and cause a problem, fortunately for us that shot went in.”
After the opening goal by Robertson Ohio was able to put pressure on the Huskies. In the 14th minute the Bobcats’ Shae Robertson evened up the match off of an assist from Ella Deevers.
Ohio (4-4-2, z-z-z MAC) scored two goals in the span of three minutes to extend its lead to 3-1. Robertson scored her second in the 24th minutes before a Jaimason Brooker tally two minutes later put the Bobcats ahead 3-1.
NIU nearly scored their second goal multiple times throughout the match. (TELL ME A COUPLE) Good goalkeeping from both teams kept the score at 3-1 for the final 60 minutes. Sahara Zingano (Grimsby Ontario / Grimsby Secondary) had a chance in the second half (WHEN) but the shot went just over the bar.
The match saw a multitude of chance as the teams combined for 25 and 14 on goal, the Bobcats led narrowly with eight on net to NIU’s six.
“The team is working hard and we just need to find a little bit more quality in both boxes,” O’Neill said.
Both goalkeepers, NIU’s Sadie McGill (Fort Worth, Tx. / L.D Bell) and Ohio’s Sloma, made five saves in the match.
The Huskies will take to the road next week with a Sunday October 1 match against Akron at 12 p.m. before a match next Thursday match at Eastern Michigan.