MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Sophomore Trudy Quidzinski (Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy) scored her third career goal as the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team fell to defending Horizon League champion Milwaukee, 3-1, on Sunday evening (Aug. 25) at Engelmann Stadium.  

Sophomore goalkeeper Julia Lentz (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) made three saves in goal for the Huskies. 

"There were definitely good moments that we can build off of and that we can carry with us into this week in practice," said NIU head coach Julie Colhoff. "Then there are also some glaring things that we have to clean up as well. Most of the goals that we gave up were similar, so we need to clean that up and then continue to execute our game plan." 

The Panthers opened the scoring in the fourth minute as Rafferty Kugler sent in a cross from the right side toward the back post at the edge of the six-yard box where Haley Johnson headed home to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. 

Milwaukee (2-0) doubled its advantage in the 19th minute on a looping header from Mackenzie Schill. Johnson hit a cross from the left side toward the penalty spot where Schill was first to meet it and headed past Lentz to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. 

In the 39th minute, Lentz made an outstanding save as she was able to tip of shot from Taylor Hattori off the crossbar before it was cleared away by the NIU defense. 

Four minutes before halftime, Kugler found the back of the net for the Panthers, getting on the end of a low cross from Morgan Koerber to nod home a third goal for Milwaukee. 

NIU (0-1) made a bright start to the second half as the Huskies had a pair of chances inside the opening seven minutes, including a 48th minute effort from freshman Emma Cramblett (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) that forced a save from Milwaukee goalkeeper Allie Strottman. 

The second half was scoreless until the 79th minute when NIU earned a corner kick and Milwaukee was whistled for a foul from the set piece. Quidzinski stepped up and converted from the penalty spot to cut the Milwaukee lead to a pair.  

"Going into the game I wanted to see our grit and work rate," said Colhoff. "In the second half I thought we did a good job of that, everybody contributed, whether they were on the field or leading from the bench, so that was nice to see. There are still things we have to fine tune and gaps we have to close up, but the second half was a better showing for us."

NIU will return home on Friday, August 30, when the Huskies host Louisiana-Lafayette in the regular season home opener. Kickoff against the Ragin' Cajuns is scheduled for 7 p.m.