BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Goals on either side of halftime from Amanda Czerniak (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) and Edith Delgado (Aurora, Ill./East Aurora) helped lead the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Bowling Green on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 26) at Cochrane Stadium. Czerniak scored in the seventh minute and Delgado added what proved to be the winner in the 84th as the Huskies topped the three-time defending conference champions. 

"I'm definitely proud of the fight that our team came out with today," said NIU head coach Julie Colhoff. "That made a huge difference, you could visibly see the passion we played with today. Very importantly was matching the execution with the details and the game plan. Bowling Green is a quality opponent, they have some great players and had some great attempts, so it was good to be able to get a hard-fought win."

NIU (4-6-0, 1-1 MAC) had an early chance as Haley Hoppe (Austin, Texas/Rouse) got a looping header on a corner in the fourth minute that was held by Bowling Green goalkeeper Lili Berg. 

The Huskies went in front in the seventh minute on a goal by Czerniak. Hoppe had the ball just outside the box, but it was poked away by Bowling Green toward Grace Louis (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) who flicked the ball into the path of Czerniak who evaded a pair of Falcon defenders and rolled a shot into the corner of the net to give the Huskies the early lead. The goal was the second of the season for the senior from South Elgin, Ill.

"It was huge for confidence," Colhoff said of the early goal. "To be able to score off of executing some things we have been working on reaffirmed and helped fuel things moving forward. In some ways it alleviates a little bit of pressure, but at the same time, we have talked about not celebrating too early, because we have fallen into that trap in previous games."

It was NIU on the attack again in the 14th minute as Hoppe collected the ball outside the box and fired a shot that was stopped by Berg.

Bowling Green (2-5-2, 1-1 MAC) had a chance in the 20th minute as a Falcon cross from the left wing deflected toward the top of the box where Isabelle Gilmore collected it and had space for a shot that she sent wide. 

Sadie McGill (Fort Worth, Texas/North Texas) made a good save in the 38th minute as Nikki Cox had the ball inside the box on the left side and fired a shot that was well held by the NIU goalkeeper. 

Bowling Green hit the crossbar in the 43rd minute when Madison Alberty's shot from just outside the box went over the head of McGill and off the bar before bouncing harmlessly over the top for a Huskie goal kick as NIU took a 1-0 lead into halftime. 

The first good chance for the hosts in the second half came in the 58th minute as the Falcons had a free kick near the corner flag. The ball was whipped into the box and the second ball fell to Audrey Shea near the top of the six-yard box, but her shot was stopped and held by McGill. 

In the 68th minute, Hoppe dribbled her way into the box and lifted a shot toward the back post that was palmed away by Berg for a NIU corner kick. Nothing came of the ensuing Huskie corner as NIU continued to hold the one-goal advantage.

Bowling Green had another opportunity in the 76th minute as Lacee Bethea moved her way into the box, cut to create space and fired a shot that was right at McGill.

Delgado doubled NIU's advantage in the 84th minute just 19 seconds after coming on as a substitute. A throw-in went to Hoppe in the box and she turned and took a shot that deflected off a Bowling Green defender right into the path of Delgado who took one touch away from a defender and slipped a shot back across her body and into the net to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead with her first career goal.

A minute later, Jasmijn Dijsselhof pulled a goal back for Bowling Green. The Falcons lofted a ball inside the six-yard box where it was punched away by McGill, but only as far as Lynsey Spotts who deflected the ball across toward Dijsselhof who slid a low shot through traffic from close range to cut the NIU advantage in half. 

In the 86th minute, Kennedy White had a looping header for Bowling Green that went over the top of the net as the Huskies finished off the road win. 

McGill tied a season-high with eight saves in the contest while Berg recorded four stops for Bowling Green. 

NIU will return to action on Thursday, Sept. 30, when it travels to Mount Pleasant to face Central Michigan. The Huskies will be back home next Sunday, Oct. 3, to host Eastern Michigan.