DEKALB – The NIU women's soccer team (8-9-1, 5-6 MAC) dropped the final game of the regular season 1-0 against Western Michigan (10-7-1, 5-5-1 MAC) Thursday afternoon. The Broncos scored their goal in the 60^th minute as a strong wind made offense tough to come by for both teams.
 
"It was a tough day as the wind made it very difficult to play a clean game," Head Coach John Ross said. "It hurt us offensively because if you didn't make clean passes the ball was going to go off the field."
 
With gusts as strong as 28 MPH, Western Michigan scored their goal going against the wind after out shooting NIU 9-2 with the wind at their back in the first half. The Huskies offense did get more chances in the second half, taking eight shots to WMU's three but the Broncos got the best opportunity to score on their goal by Emma Kahn on a free kick.
 
NIU keeper Amy Annala (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) made three saves in the first half with Western Michigan keeping the pressure up. Huskie outfield players Taylor Sarver (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) and Lauren Gierman (Prospect Heights, Ill./John Hersey) each took two shots on goal but couldn't get on the scoring sheet.
 
"We created a couple of chances in the first half and had more chances all game," Ross said. "They were quality chances but we just have to do better with them to be more aggressive going toward the goal."
 
The Huskies still qualify for the MAC tournament as the seventh seed after both Ohio and Eastern Michigan both lost. As the seventh seed, NIU will travel to Muncie, Ind. to take on the second seed Ball State, the same first round match-up that saw the Huskies upset the Cardinals last season. The game at Ball State is scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET, 12:00 CT.