MACOMB, Ill. – The NIU women's soccer team won their season opener against Western Illinois by a score of 1-0 Friday night. The game was called in the 72^nd minute due to severe weather in the area so the Huskies were declared the winners.
 
Western Illinois started the game strong testing NIU goalkeeper Amy Annala (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) with four shots in the first half but Annala stopped them all in her first regular season game since being injured late last season. Annala also faced a penalty kick in the 19^th minute that was shot over the goal to keep WIU off the board early.
 
"WIU had great fight as a team and tested us today," Head Coach John Ross said. "We improved from our last game in many areas and it was great to see the urgency from us at the end of the first half to get our goal."
 
The Huskies came on strong at the end of the first half as they were awarded a corner kick with about 10 seconds left in the first half when Lauren Gierman (Prospect Heights, Ill./John Hersey) sent a ball to Delaney Loprieno (Algonquin, Ill./Huntley) and Loprieno headed it in for the NIU goal with 44:52 on the clock, eight seconds away from the end of the half.
 
Loprieno's goal is the first official goal of her NIU career after she did score in NIU's exhibition against Drake last Wednesday. Gierman was playing in her first game since 2015 due to injury and she didn't miss a beat recording the assist after back-to-back three-assist seasons in 2014 and 2015.
 
"It's a big bonus for us to get Lauren back on the field making her presence felt right away with her service," Ross said. "Delaney is making an early impact on defense and did a great job to get on the other end of Lauren's service."
 
NIU dominated corner kicks with seven to Western Illinois getting no corner kicks throughout the entire game. The Huskies also played a more physical game committing five fouls in each half for a total of ten to WIU's six all game.
 
The Huskies will play their home opener on Sunday against New Mexico State at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex at 1:00 p.m. CT. NIU will be hosting Sunday FUNday with pre-game activities for kids, free lemonade for fans in attendance and post-game autographs and a meet and greet.