DEKALB, Ill. – Two goals in the opening 23 minutes helped Eastern Michigan claim a 3-0 victory over the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team on Sunday afternoon (March 14) at the NIU Soccer Complex. 

"In the beginning, we were moving the ball fine and defensively they were willing to give us the ball, but we lacked intensity," said NIU head coach Julie Colhoff. "We gave away things in the beginning, and credit (Eastern Michigan), they capitalized on their opportunities. Consistency was a big thing for us, we had a bad practice yesterday and we had a bad game today, so we have to turn it around."

Eastern Michigan (2-1-0, 2-1-0 MAC) opened the scoring in the 13th minute as Alia Frederick crossed a ball toward Sabrina McNeill whose header sailed over the head of NIU junior goalkeeper Julia Lentz (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) and into the back of the net to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. 

EMU doubled its advantage 10 minutes later as a corner from Kylie Frantz slipped past a number of bodies at the front post and found its way into the net to give Eastern Michigan a two-goal advantage. 

The Eagles would take that 2-0 lead into halftime as they outshot the Huskies, 10-1, in the opening 45 minutes. 

Early in the second half NIU tested Eastern Michigan goalkeeper Chelsea Abbotts for the first time with a pair of chances. Freshman Amara Thompkins (Racine, Wis./Indian Trail) had a shot from distance that was turned aside in the 52nd minute and freshman Kierah Meier (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) had a shot stopped by Abbotts in the 53rd minute. 

McNeill added her second goal of the game in the 78th minute for Eastern Michigan, putting the contest out of reach. Kennady Kuhlman played the ball into the path of McNeill who tucked her shot from near the top of the box inside the far post, giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead. 

Abbotts made three saves in the contest for Eastern Michigan; Lentz played the opening 45 minutes and made six stops for the Huskies before senior Megan Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) came in after halftime and made six saves as well. 

NIU will be back in action on Thursday, March 18, when it travels to Muncie, Ind., to meet Ball State. Kickoff against the Cardinals is slated for 2 p.m.