DEKALB, Ill. -- The Northern Illinois University women's soccer team fell to Buffalo, 5-0, on Friday night in the Mid-American Conference opener at the NIU Soccer Complex. Three goals in 53 seconds early in the second half helped lift the Bulls to the victory. 

After a scoreless opening 45 minutes which featured just three total shots on goal, Buffalo (7-1, 1-0 MAC) broke the deadlock in the 49th minute as Kaitlyn Walsh finished a cross from Rebecca Bramble through traffic in the box to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead. 

Buffalo doubled its advantage 38 seconds later as Gurjeena Jandu played a ball to Marcy Barberic alone inside the box and Barberic slotted a shot past NIU sophomore goalkeeper Megan Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North). 

Fifteen seconds later the Bulls scored a third as Carissima Cutrona scored off a feed from Bramble as Buffalo lead, 3-0. 

The Bulls scored their fourth in the 76th minute as Jandu's corner kick was headed by Meghan Simmons at the back post toward Tess Ford who headed the ball into the back of the net to increase the Buffalo advantage. 

In the closing stages, Carley Zoccali pounced on a free kick by Taylor Caridi to close the scoring for Buffalo.

Donnally made two saves for the Huskies while senior MacKenzie Lee (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) came on and made three saves. Buffalo goalkeeper Emily Kelly had two saves in the contest. 

NIU will return to action on Sunday, Sept. 23, as the Huskies host Akron at 2 p.m. NIU will be honoring its alumni at Sunday's contest.