YPSILANTI, Mich. – The NIU women's soccer team (8-8-1, 5-5 MAC) lost their second-straight 1-0 match as they fell to Eastern Michigan (7-11-1, 4-6 MAC) Sunday afternoon. The Huskies turned to freshman Megan Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) in goal as she made five saves in her second career start and third appearance.
 
"We need to do a better job of taking care of the little details," Head Coach John Ross said. "Things started to accumulate as the game went on, making us have to work harder and took a lot out of us throughout the game."
 
The NIU offensive attack was carried by reserves as four of the seven total shots and both shots on goal were taken by players not in Ross's starting 11. The Huskies have now only scored one goal in their last four games with all four of those matches resulting in a 1-0 score. NIU had scored a goal in all but three matches going into this current four-game before being shutout in three of their last four.
 
The Eastern Michigan goal came in the 27^th minute of the game as the Eagles' Alex Wilbanks scored off of a free kick to beat Donnally. Donnally and senior Amy Annala (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) have each had two starts in the Huskies' previous four game as but the coaching staff sees experience winning out with the season on the line.
 
NIU will need a favorable result in their final match of the regular season as they have no dropped to sixth in the Mid-American Conference standings. The Huskies will qualify for the MAC tournament with a win or a tie on Thursday against Western Michigan as the Huskies can finish as high as fourth place or be knocked out of the tournament after Thursday's matches.
 
"It would be nice for our work early in the season to have solidified us but now we need to get the job done and get back to business because there's still work to do," Ross said.
 
Women's soccer's match against Western Michigan this Thursday will start at 2:00 p.m. CT at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex.