DEKALB – This season, NIU women's soccer will honor the 20^th anniversary of the team from 1997 that won the program's first of back-to-back Mid-American Conference Championships. That Huskies squad finished their season with a record of 12-8-1 winning seven of their 13 home games and five of their eight road matches.
 
"We're looking forward to celebrating the 1997 team and bringing the alumni back on campus," Head Coach John Ross said. "They are the team that set the standard for NIU women's soccer
 
NIU finished the 1997 season with a 6-1 MAC record and won their two MAC Tournament games against Ohio 2-1 and in overtime against Eastern Michigan 3-2 to claim the first women's soccer MAC title for NIU under the program's first head coach Frank Horvat. Horvat is the all-time wins (87) and winning percentage (.550) leader in NIU women's soccer history after coaching 12 seasons from 1993 to 2004.
 
The Huskies' offense was led by the top-two point scorers in the program's history in Anne Mucci and Allison Wade. Wade, who won MAC Player of the Year, was the top goal scorer on the team with 19 goals, which is the NIU record for goals in the season. Mucci set and still holds the NIU record for assists in a season with 18 and also scored 11 goals to total 40 points, second behind Wade's 45 that season, which is also the NIU program high for points in a season.
 
NIU faced some adversity after their season opener when starting goalkeeper Stefanie Maurer suffered a season-ending injury and forward Julie Bergstrom volunteered to take over starting goalkeeper responsibilities. Replacing Maurer was no easy task as she was coming off of a 111-save season in 1996 after a program-record 138 saves in 1995 but Bergstrom set records of her own.
 
Bergstrom recorded eight shutouts, a program record at the time, that included a stretch of five-straight shutouts for an NIU record of a 560-minute shutout streak. In their MAC Championship game, the Huskies avenged their only MAC regular season loss to Eastern Michigan with their win in overtime where Wade got the game winner in the 99^th minute.
 
"We're trying to achieve what they did on the field," Ross said. "It will be good to connect the different generations so the former players can share their experiences with the current players."
 
This season's celebration with culminate an on-field celebration on Oct. 1 during the Huskies' home match against Bowling Green.