KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University women's soccer team (2-4-2, 0-1) opened up Mid-American Conference play on Thursday (Sept. 21) with a road loss to Western Michigan (5-3-0, 1-0) by a score of 3-0.

WMU was able to control the pace throughout most of the match and led the game in shots on goal, 9-1.
 
"Obviously a tough loss for us, nowhere near the performance that we wanted to put in, especially for the first game in the MAC season," head coach Michael O'Neill said. "Credit to Western Michigan, they're a very good team and they know they're going to be right around the top coming into the season, but I just felt like we let ourselves down in all areas of the game today."
 
The Broncos made a strong start in the first half, scoring two goals in the first 30 minutes of the match. WMU outshot NIU 9-2 in the first half. Western Michigan added a third goal in the second half.
 
Redshirt senior goalie Sadie McGill (Fort Worth, Texas / L.D. Bell) made six saves in the setback. Senior goalkeeper Marianna Neau (Douglasville, Ga. / Alexander) came on in the second half and made her first appearance since 2021 for the Huskies. Neau played the final 13 minutes of the match.
 
Lauren Boafo got the win in net for WMU, making one save.
 
WMU got a few near chances early in the match but broke through in the 15^th minute as Jen Blitchok was set up by Jenna Blackburn and was able to beat McGill's dive.
 
In the 28^th minute, WMU's Emily Pagett scored after the ball was deflected near the Huskies goal line as multiple players for both teams ran towards the ball. Pagett was able to kick the ball in after McGill saved the ball off the line.
 
NIU's Sahara Zingano (Grimsby, Ontario / Grimsby Secondary) had a shot on goal for the Huskies in the 51^st minute as Boafo made an impressive jumping save to deny the goal.
 
In the 59^th minute, Blitchok scored the third and final goal off a corner kick from Madi Canada.
 
The Huskies will now prepare for their conference home opener against Toledo at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 24. Admission for all NIU Soccer games is free of charge.
 
"I think just a better overall performance," O'Neill said of what he is looking for on Sunday. "We're obviously going to look at some film and have some conversations with the team, but we just need to be more assertive. We need to be more courageous, and we just need to be better in all areas. There's not one thing that we can put our finger on, we've got to make sure that we turn up we're ready to play on Sunday."
 
- NIU -