Women's Soccer | September 17

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference has named Kelsi McLaughlin (Greenfield, Ind./Illinois State) of the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team as the league's Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday (Sept.17) for her performance in last week's NIU victories.
 
McLaughlin scored a first half buzzer beater, which turned out to be the game winning goal, in the Huskies 1-0 win over Illinois State on Thursday (Sept. 12). She then scored another critical goal on Sunday (Sept. 15) as she opened the scoring in the fifth minute of NIU's 2-1 win over Valparaiso after getting past two defenders. 
 
"We are very excited for Kelsi," NIU head coach Michael O'Neill said. "She was very good on both sides of the ball this past week. On Sunday specifically they couldn't really handle her in 1v1. Also, I thought defensively she was so good in pressing and winning the ball back high up the field. She is a very deserving winner, and we look forward to seeing her continue to grow here at NIU."
 
A junior from Greenfield, Ind., McLaughlin is in her first season at NIU after transferring from Illinois State. She has made a major impact on the field with four goals and two assists in eight games. In addition to her two goals this past weekend, McLaughlin has also found the net against St. Thomas (Aug. 22) and Southern Indiana (Aug.29) and earned assists against Oakland and Eastern Illinois.
 
The Huskies begin MAC play this week with a Thursday road trip to take on Miami and will host their conference home opener at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22 against Ohio.
 
NIU has opened the season with a 6-1-1 record which marks the Huskies' best ever record through eight games. NIU's lone loss came against #9 Notre Dame on Sept. 5, the Huskies have bounced back by winning their last three matches.

- NIU -