MILWAUKEE – The Northern Illinois University women's soccer team played its second, and final, exhibition on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 21) falling to Marquette, 4-1, at the Valley Fields bubble. Senior Haley Hoppe (Austin, Texas/Rouse) scored the lone goal for the Huskies off an assist from freshman Anese English (Chicago, Ill./Eisenhower). 

"It definitely wasn't the result we wanted," said NIU head coach Julie Colhoff. "But it was a really good opportunity for us to evaluate where we are at. It was the first time we played on a full-sized pitch, so that was good to see. Credit to Marquette, I think they executed their game plan with consistency and that was something we struggled with. We strayed from our game plan a couple of times and when we did that, we got punished for it.

"With that being said, there were a lot of good things we can build on and I think it was a good final exhibition in terms of experience, getting more reps as a team and building upon it going into conference play."

After playing its first exhibition contest on a narrow field inside the Chessick Practice Center, Colhoff and the Huskies were able to evaluate game situations on a full-sized field for the first time.

"One thing we were curious to see was how we covered the ground, both from a fitness standpoint as well as an individual work rate standpoint," said Colhoff. "There was good data collection in that regard, and also how would we utilize the space with the personnel that we have when we won the ball."

Having played their two exhibition contests, Colhoff and the Huskies will now turn their attention toward the regular season opener against Western Michigan on Thursday, March 4. 

"Every week we have gotten better in terms of organization on both sides of the ball, so that is a positive," said Colhoff. "There are definitely individual players that are stepping up and showing that they can be counted on for big minutes and extended minutes, which is a plus. The depth is something we haven't had in past seasons that is beneficial to use, even with a loss we were able to use a lot of our bench, which was good. 

"Before our first conference match I want us to up the consistency of our intensity, playing with tenacity from the first whistle to the last whistle."