Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University women’s soccer team scored in each half to beat Bowling Green on Friday night and boost its hopes of qualifying for the Mid-American Conference Tournament in a 2-0 victory at Cochrane Field in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Super sophomore substitutes Allie Ingham (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) and Sammy O’Brien (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) scored the crucial goals for the Huskies (3-12-1, 2-6-1 MAC) in a match that lifted NIU above the opposing Falcons (6-10-1, 2-7-0 MAC) in the conference standings and pulled the team within two points of the last qualifying spot to the conference tournament.

NIU women’s soccer head coach John Ross hailed his team’s clutch performance in a match that the Huskies needed to win to maintain their postseason chances.

“This was a great win for us. Certainly everybody that played for us contributed to an important team victory,” Ross said after the game. “We actually started a bit slow, but it was great to see how our team improved throughout the match. And in the second half, we really took it to them and could’ve scored a few more goals.”

The Falcons outshot the Huskies 10-4 in the first half, but a moment of quality from Ingham gave NIU the lead in the 42nd minute after she blasted a shot into the top corner following a headed pass to her from junior midfielder Haley Cummings (Spring, Texas/Home School). It was Ingham’s first goal of the season and the third of her collegiate career.

With that goal giving the Huskies confidence in the second half, NIU poured forward and forced Bowling Green goalkeeper Lauren Cadel to commit a foul on Nicole Gobbo (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) that resulted in a red card which took the Falcons down to 10 players for the final 17 minutes of the match.

It didn’t take long for NIU to capitalize on that advantage as O’Brien made a long run, collected a pass from Ashley Auble (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and buried the shot into the net in the 78th minute for her first goal of the season and the second of her career.

The Huskies then held on for their second consecutive shutout in league play as central defenders Alex Elias (Phoenix, Ariz./Boulder Creek) and Cassidy Page (Germantown, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) again played the entire match without allowing a goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Amy Annala (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) also made three saves to preserve her second shutout of the season and the seventh of her career.

Next up for the NIU women’s soccer team is another potentially season-defining MAC match against Eastern Michigan on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT. The Huskies and Eagles enter the match tied in the MAC standings, with the winner likely to jump into the top eight heading into the final week of the regular season.

“We’re very happy with this result,” Ross added. “Our defense played really strong across the board. We’ll enjoy this for tonight and then refocus for Eastern Michigan on Sunday.”

--NIU--