AKRON, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University women's soccer team and Akron played 110 minutes on Thursday night (Oct. 14) but were unable to find a winner as the Huskies and Zips settled for a 0-0 draw at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The tie was the first of the season for NIU, as the Huskies move to 4-10-1 overall, 1-5-1 in Mid-American Conference play. Akron is now 3-11-1, 1-5-1 in the conference.
"In the first half it took us a while to settle in," said NIU head coach
Julie Colhoff. "It wasn't bad, we just weren't executing cleanly. As the half went on, we seemed to get a hold of things and the second half was definitely a better performance. We were able to keep the ball, mostly in our attacking half. In general, the performance was solid, we just have to bury our opportunities."
NIU goalkeeper
Sadie McGill (Fort Worth, Texas/North Texas) was called into action for the first time in the contest in the 28th minute, stopping a shot from just outside the box from Aislinn Meaney.
The first attempt for the Huskies came just after the half-hour mark as a shot from
Quinlan Libit (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) sailed high.
In the 39th minute, McGill made a stop on a chance from Sarah Nguyen that was headed toward the low corner.
Three minutes later, Akron goalkeeper Penelope Cuirinier ensured that the opening 45 minutes would end scoreless, stopping a shot from
Shaye Jones (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista).
After the intermission, NIU had the first chance as
Julia Neary's (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills) effort from near the top of the 18-yard box went high five minutes into the second half. Four minutes later, McGill made a save on a shot from Morgan Pentz to keep the game deadlocked.
Edith Delgado (Aurora, Ill./East Aurora) had a shot stopped in the 76th minute and Jones saw her shot saved in the 85th as the Huskies and Zips ended the 90 minutes tied.
The only shot on target in the opening 10 minutes of overtime fell to
Amanda Czerniak (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) as her effort from outside the box was stopped by Cuirinier.
In the final moments of the second overtime, McGill made a save on a shot by Pentz as NIU and Akron were forced to settle for a draw.
Both McGill and Cuirinier each made four saves in the contest.
"Obviously, being able to keep a clean sheet is important," said Colhoff. "Coming out with a point, rather than not, is a good thing, but I do think we had opportunities that we should have put in the back of the net. It is a positive that we created those opportunities, but the next step in finishing them."
NIU returns home on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 17, when the Huskies host Buffalo on Senior Day. Kickoff for Sunday's matchup is slated for 1 p.m.
