Oct. 10, 2008
Box Score
DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois matched its season best scoring output with three different players tallying their first goals of the year as the Huskies claimed a 3-2 win over Ohio Friday at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
The win improved NIU's record to 6-3-4 overall and 2-2-1 in the Mid-American Conference, while Ohio fell to 2-8-2, 1-3-1.
Mo Smunt (St. Charles, Ill./East HS), Christen Schuler (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley HS) and Kelly Mullany (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley HS) each found the back of the net for Northern Illinois. Sophomores Smunt and Schuler scored the first goals of their Huskie careers in the first half, while Mullany's game-winner was her first goal of the year and the fifth of her career.
First-year Huskie head coach Carrie Barker was pleased with the way her team responded to the ups and downs of the game.
"We stayed focused for 90 minutes," Barker said. "We started well and ended well and got through the highs and lows within the game. All three goals today were spectacular goals. They were well-earned and a result of absolutely beautiful soccer."
Northern Illinois built a 2-0 first-half lead. Smunt opened the scoring at the 18:15 mark with a header past Ohio goalkeeper Jess MacLean on a cross from Thea Johnson (Homewood, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor HS), who picked up the assist. Later in the half, Schuler made it 2-0 with a perfectly placed kick to the top left corner of the net from approximately 35 yards out.
Ohio came back to tie the score in the second half on a pair of goals by Amy Lower, the Bobcats' leading scorer this season. Lower's first goal came on a 2-on-1 breakaway on a feed from Toye Famodu at the 61:20 mark. Three minutes later, Lower again was free inside the box as she received a pass from Erika Schmitt and put the ball past Huskie goalkeeper Lindsey Curnock from 10 yards out.
With momentum on the Bobcats' side, the Huskies battled back. With just under 20 minutes left in the game, NIU's Lisa Maier (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg HS) lifted a perfect ball into the box off a corner kick and Mullany headed it into the net for the 3-2 lead.
Curnock (Batavia, Ill./Batavia HS) and MacLean each had four saves on the day. The Huskies had 10 shots and seven corner kicks on a day when fans pledged contributions to breast cancer for each NIU shot and corner kick.
"We talked about the fact that we were doing the promotion today for breast cancer awareness and that goals and corner kicks were really going to mean something," Barker said. "So the team was aware and they responded."
Northern Illinois' Breast Cancer Awareness Weekend continues Sunday when the Huskies play host to Akron Sunday at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex beginning at 1 p.m.
-- NIU --
