ATHENS, Ohio -- Two goals early in the second half helped lead Ohio to a 4-0 victory over the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team on Thursday afternoon at Chessa Field. NIU senior goalkeeper MacKenzie Lee (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) made 14 saves in the contest. 

The Bobcats went on the attack early on, forcing a pair of stops from Lee inside the opening 65 seconds of the match. 

Ohio (7-6-3, 5-2-2 MAC) opened the scoring in the eighth minute on a goal by Madelyn Kah. Sydney Leckie started the play for the Bobcats, feeding Maria Collica who found Kah for a shot that found the right corner of the net to give the Bobcats an early 1-0 lead. 

NIU (2-15-0, 1-8 MAC) had a chance to equalize in the 32nd minute as a shot from junior Abby Gregg (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East) forced a save from Ohio goalkeeper Erin Beurket that was pushed away for a corner kick. 

Four minutes later, Ohio's Sarina Dirrig rattled a shot off the post as the Bobcats took a 1-0 lead into the interval. 

Just 27 seconds into the second half the Bobcats doubled their advantage. A cross round Abby Townsend found Alivia Milesky in front of goal and Milesky made no mistake, finishing past Lee to give Ohio a 2-0 lead. 

Ohio added a third goal four minutes later as Milesky netted her second goal of the contest. Milesky collected the ball in midfield and went on a run toward goal before firing a shot into the upper corner for the third Bobcat goal of the afternoon. 

A little past the hour-mark, Lee made a pair of saves on Townsend and a third on Leckie before the Huskies had a chance to pull a goal back. A 70th minute chance from freshman Trudy Quidzinski (Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy) was stopped by Beurket and the Bobcat goalkeeper made another save a minute later on a shot from sophomore Haley Hoppe (Austin, Texas/Rouse). 

In the 76th minute, Ohio scored again as Dirrig got on the end of a corner kick by Collica and found the back of the net as the Bobcats took a 4-0 lead. 

NIU created a number of chances in the final quarter-hour, including three from Gregg as the Bobcat goalkeeper finished the match with eight saves to preserve the shutout. 

The Huskies will be back in action on Sunday, October 21, when they visit Kent State. Game time against the Golden Flashes is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT.