DEKALB, Ill. -- Tyra King (Menifee, Calif./Metea Valley) scored in the 84th minute and Alyssa Stephenson (Oakville, Ontario/St. Ignatius of Loyola) scored with less than 20 seconds left as the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team came from behind to beat Eastern Illinois, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 31) at the NIU Soccer Complex. 

"Crazy game," said NIU head coach Michael O'Neill. "Delighted with the second half performance, I thought we deserved to get the win with our effort and our energy. We limited them to very few chances, just caught on the counter (for the goal), which we spoke about at halftime. This is why you coach, when things are going against you and you feel like it's not your day, but you have a group of players who are still fighting and giving everything they have. Today was a testament to them and their character."

The Huskies controlled the majority of play throughout the 90 minutes but still found themselves behind in the waning moments before King's second goal of the season tied the game. Katie Bennett's (Liverpool, England/Carmel Sixth Form) free kick from midfield was flicked on by Zoe Mclauchlan (Gatineau, Quebec/Collège Nouvelles Frontières) in the box toward King. The junior forward just beat an Eastern Illinois defender and goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil to it, heading it down past Kratochvil from five yards out to equalize for the Huskies. 

After getting the tying goal, NIU continue to push looking for the winner which came in the final seconds as Stephenson scored the first goal of her collegiate career. Stephenson collected the ball from Kelsi McLaughlin (Greenfield, Ind./Greenfield Central) on the right wing, drove toward the top of the box and fired a left-footed shot from 20 yards that had Kratochvil rooted to the spot as it curled inside the far post. 

"Alyssa has been really good for us," said O'Neill. "It was her first career goal; people might find that hard to believe with how impactful she has been. She embodied everything that we were today and was the hero at the end. It gives me a good feeling about the team moving forward in terms of our resilience because the MAC is going to be a grind. There are going to be close games and if we have that resilience, and we can lean on that, it will put us in good positions."

NIU (2-2-1) outshot Eastern Illinois, 7-2, in the opening 45 minutes but it was the visitors that had the lead against the run of play. Abby Reini opened the scoring for the Panthers in the 23rd minute and Ella Onstott slipped a ball in behind the Huskie defense and Reini scored from about 15 yards out to give the visitors the lead. 

In the 32nd minute, Mya Newcombe (Carlisle, Ontario/Waterdown District) had an excellent chance from just outside the box that was tipped over the bar by Kratochvil as Eastern Illinois took the 1-0 lead into halftime. 

After the interval, NIU continued to create most of the chance as McLaughlin fired a shot from the top of the box that was parried over the bar by Kratochvil in the 55th minute. 

From a corner in the 69th minute, Aubrey Robertson (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) had a chance that was cleared off the line by the Eastern Illinois defense as NIU continued to push for an equalizer, which finally came six minutes before full time. 

NIU will return to action on Thursday, Sept. 4, when they travel to Madison, Wis., for the final non-conference contest of the season against the Wisconsin Badgers. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.