Women's Soccer | September 8

Box Score CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's soccer team won for the fourth time in five matches on Sunday, as the Huskies dominated the Panthers of Eastern Illinois. NIU won the match, 3-0, with two goals from leading scorer Tyra King (Menifee, Calif./Metea Valley) and another from Isabel Struble (Mount Pleasant, Mich./Mount Pleasant).
 
"I'm really pleased with the overall performance," NIU head coach Michael O'Neill said. "After Notre Dame, we had to show that our mindset would be right for us. We had a couple good training sessions, and today we really took the game to them and came out deserved winners."
 
NIU (4-1-1) outshot EIU (2-3-2) 19-5 and led 8-3 in shots on frame. NIU earned 10 corner kicks while the Panthers had zero.
 
"We saw some things that we could exploit, and we bought into the game plan," O'Neill said. "We attacked the wing really well and created shots and crosses from it, our forwards were confident and dynamic today and they kept Eastern from feeling comfortable throughout the game."
 
Ary Purifoy (Machesney Park, Ill./Oklahoma State) made three saves to secure the win and her third clean sheet of the season.
 
"Defensively we were great, Julianna (Hill), Sophia (White), Aubrey (Robertson) and Lea (Gruennagel) were really solid," O'Neill said. "The shutout was very much deserved for Ary (Purifoy) and we were able to take the pressure off of her."
 
The Huskies took control as soon as the match got underway as NIU forced the ball deep into EIU territory and had multiple shots and corner kicks.
 
Eastern forced the ball out of the box after a corner kick in the 17^th minute. The ball got knocked to Lea Gruennagel (Homburg, Germany/Saginaw Valley State) who booted the ball into the box to Alyssa Stephenson (Oakville, Ontario). Stephenson headed the ball perfectly to King who booted the ball into the back left corner of the net.
 
NIU doubled its lead in the 25^th minute. Sophia White (Fort Wayne, Ind./IUPUI) passed the ball from the back half up to Kelsi McLaughlin (Greenfield, Ind./Greenfield Central) who dribbled the ball past defenders and near the top of the box. She passed it into King who found Struble on the right side of the box who slotted it past Eastern Illinois goalkeeper Ashlyn Hoover.
 
NIU kept control of the game throughout as the score remained 2-0 until the 70^th minute.
 
McLaughlin gained possession, ran towards the middle of the field and drew defenders. That opened a path on the outside for Struble who got the ball and ripped a shot on net that was saved, the ball bounced a few feet away from Hoover and King gained possession and tucked the ball home.  
 
The Huskies closed out the last 20 minutes to seal the shutout victory.
 
King now leads the Huskies with five goals and two assists in 2024. Struble scored her first goal of the season. McLaughlin added her second and third assists of the year while Stephenson and Gruennagel earned their second assists of the season.  
 
The Huskies are back in action at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12 when they travel to Normal, Ill. and take on Illinois State.
 
-- NIU --