The Northern Illinois University women’s soccer team officially begins the 2022 season this week as the Huskies hit the road to face Eastern Kentucky and Indiana State. NIU opens the campaign at Eastern Kentucky on Thursday, Aug. 18, at 3 p.m. CT before meeting Indiana State on Sunday, Aug. 21, at 12 p.m. CT.
The road trip also represents the official debut of first-year Huskie head coach Michael O’Neill following a productive preseason camp.
“Preseason was preseason, every preseason I have had has been the same,” said O’Neill. “Lots of information, loads of reps for everyone. It’s been one big learning curve preseason. I think first day to Wisconsin game (second exhibition) there has been a ton of growth, a ton of progress in terms of understanding roles, physically becoming more efficient, being able to do things that maybe on day one or two we weren’t. There has been a lot of progress and growth but, truth be told, this is where it counts.
“Regular season results matter and us putting that good work into how we go about winning a soccer game. This is going to be the challenge for us, have we learned enough to go out Thursday at Eastern Kentucky and feel prepared that we can win a soccer game? Not that we are going to be the finished article, because we are going to learn game-to-game, but I believe the work we have done in preseason has built confidence and trust within the team that we can go out and compete.”
NIU returns 16 players from a season ago, while also welcoming nine newcomers, four of whom have previous collegiate experience. Six of the Huskie returnees (Abby Adams, Edith Delgado, Jenny Lewey, Abby McHugh, Keirah Meier and Abby Zipse) appeared in all 19 matches a season ago while three more (Kylee Hermeyer, Claudia Muessig and Amara Thompkins) saw time in 17 games in 2021.
Preseason exhibitions against a pair of Big Ten foes in Iowa and Wisconsin provided O’Neill and his staff an excellent opportunity to learn and evaluate the 2022 Huskies as they prepared for the regular season.
“The Wisconsin and Iowa (exhibition) games, albeit extremely tough tests, were great workouts for us,” said O’Neill. “We got to see the team respond in difficult situations which is probably the best evaluation I can make right now. With where we are as a program it’s about having that chip on our shoulder and trusting players that are going to grind and make us difficult to beat.
“I’ve learned a ton about the group, some of the players that started slow have started to come out of their shell, which is great. There is a group of players that, as a staff, we trust that when they are out there, they can help us compete. That’s the beauty of preseason and us getting to know the girls day-to-day, and we are going to learn a ton more about them on Thursday, Sunday and week-by-week.”
Each of this week’s contests are rematches from a season ago when the Huskies split home contests against the Colonels and Sycamores. NIU fell to Eastern Kentucky, 3-1, and defeated Indiana State, 2-1, in overtime.
Eastern Kentucky is coming off a 9-10 record in 2021, finishing third in the Atlantic Sun’s West Division with a 4-5 conference mark. Leading scorer Audrey Anderson returns after scoring five goals for the Colonels a season ago and 2021 Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year Nerea de Diego is also back for Eastern Kentucky.
Indiana State went 6-7-4 a season ago, including 4-2-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Sycamores earned a 2-0 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne and tied Bellarmine, 1-1, in exhibition matches this fall. Indiana State will face SIU Edwardsville in its season opener on Thursday (Aug. 18) before hosting the Huskies.
Following this weekend’s road matches, NIU will return home for a pair of contests next weekend as the Huskies host Lindenwood in the home opener on Friday, Aug. 26, and Southern Indiana on Sunday, Aug. 28.