KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Freshman Kierah Meier (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) scored her second goal of the season but the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team fell, 2-1, to Western Michigan on Thursday afternoon (April 1) at the WMU Soccer Complex. 

The Huskies outshot the Broncos, 13-8, but were unable to overcome a pair of goals from Bailey Korhorn. 

Western Michigan (3-2-2, 3-2-2 MAC) opened the scoring in the eighth minute as Morgan Otteson's cross from the right side found the head of Korhorn who finished from close range to give the Broncos an early 1-0 lead. 

NIU (1-6-0, 1-6-0) had its first chance of the afternoon in the 13th minute as junior Jenna Lewey (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) created a turnover in the Western Michigan third of the field. Lewey fired a shot from outside the box that was held by Bronco goalkeeper Hannah Sargent. 

Three minutes later, Western Michigan earned a free kick just outside the NIU box and Korhorn forced an outstanding save from NIU junior Julia Lentz (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) as the Huskie goalkeeper was at full stretch down to her left to deny Korhorn. 

The Huskies had another opportunity off a corner in the 22nd minute as sophomore Hannah Kroupa's (New Berlin, Wis./New Berlin) set piece was flicked toward goal by freshman Abby Zipse (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) at the near post and stopped by Sargent.

Six minutes before halftime, Lewey had an excellent chance to pull NIU level as she worked her way into the box, cut inside and fired a shot that beat Sargent but came back off the crossbar as Western Michigan took its one-goal lead into the break. 

In the 55th minute, Western Michigan doubled its advantage. Korhorn scored her second goal of the game as a low cross from Otteson was collected by Korhorn at the top of the six-yard box. The Bronco midfielder turned on the ball and fired into the upper corner at the far post to give Western Michigan a 2-0 advantage. 

The Huskies, who outshot the Broncos 7-3 in the second half, began to have much more of the ball after the second Western Michigan goal and cut the lead in half in the 70th minute.

Kroupa took a free kick from just inside the Bronco half that bounced inside the Western Michigan box before Meier pounced on it and fired a shot from just outside the six that beat Sargent to cut the Broncos lead to 2-1 with 20 minutes to play. 

Moments later, sophomore Isabella Sabo (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) had a shot from distance that was tipped over the crossbar by Sargent. 

NIU continued to be on the front-foot and, with two minutes left, sophomore Nicole Barham (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos) created one more chance for the Huskies to even the contest, but Sargent came up with another save as the Broncos held on for the win. 

Sargent made five saves in the contest for Western Michigan, Lentz had one stop and senior Megan Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North), who came on for the second 45 minutes, made two saves. 

NIU will finish the weekend on Sunday, April 4, as the Huskies travel to Ypsilanti to meet Eastern Michigan. Game time against the Eagles is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT.