Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women’s soccer team earned a hard-fought point with a scoreless draw against Miami (Ohio) in Mid-American Conference action on Sunday afternoon at the NIU Soccer Complex.

On NIU women’s soccer Senior Day, the Huskies (2-12-1, 1-6-1 MAC) produced a gutsy performance against the MAC title chasing RedHawks (9-5-1, 5-2-1 MAC) to earn a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods in front of a nice crowd on a beautiful day in DeKalb.

NIU head coach John Ross was very pleased with the result and his team’s performance, which ended a six-match losing streak for the Huskies.

“It was a great way for our wonderful senior class to go out on their Senior Day,” Ross said. “We showed lots of signs of improvement and took a huge step in the right direction today. This point keeps us in contention for the MAC Tournament and sets up two big matches for us next weekend.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Amy Annala (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) made eight saves, which included two desperation stops in the second overtime, to earn her first shutout of the season for the Huskies.

Miami outshot NIU by a 17-8 margin, but with the Huskies making far more substitutions than the RedHawks, the home team had fresher legs into the overtime periods. NIU could’ve won the match in the final seconds of the first overtime period, but Mackenzie Lewis (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) unfortunately smashed a header off the crossbar.

The NIU central defender pairing of Alex Elias (Phoenix, Ariz./Boulder Creek) and Cassidy Page (Germantown, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) played very well against the talented RedHawks attackers throughout the entire match, with both players staying on the field for the entire 110 minutes.

Just three points behind the eighth-place spot in the MAC standings, the Huskies will head to Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan next weekend for two crucial matches against teams just ahead of them in the race for MAC Tournament qualification.

NIU will face the Falcons on Friday at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT before battling the Eagles on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT, knowing two positive results could lift the Huskies into the MAC Tournament this season.

--NIU--