CHICAGO – Despite first half goals from
Abby Foulk (Westfield, Ind./Westfield) and
Julianna Hill (Burlington, Iowa/West Burlington), the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team had to settle for a 2-2 draw against DePaul on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 16) in Chicago. The Blue Demons scored first before NIU took a lead into halftime, only to see DePaul score the only goal of the second half.
"Some really good things today, I thought we showed great character to get back in the game," said NIU head coach
Michael O'Neill. "The subs came on and lifted us after going down to an early set piece goal. Character and depth of the squad were definitely positives. Mixed emotions because we conceded two goals from corner kicks, that is something we need to focus on.
"Hot conditions, really humid. A lot of players played a lot of minutes and will probably be struggling, but all in all, love the fight, love the character and hopefully we will sharpen up a few things, especially the set pieces, and that could have been a different result."
DePaul (0-0-1) opened the scoring in the seventh minute off a corner. Shayna da Silva's corner found the back post run of Mya Gardner who powered a header past NIU goalkeeper
Alexandra Devory (Ruckersville, Va./William Monroe) from the edge of the six-yard box to give the hosts an early lead.
NIU (0-1-1) answered back seven minutes later as Foulk scored the first goal of her collegiate career.
Sarah Roy (Saint-Julie, Quebec/College de Montreal) crossed a ball from midfield toward the edge of the box and Foulk got to it just before a DePaul defender and slipped a shot under Blue Demon goalkeeper Mason Hillery from about 12 yards to level the contest at 1-1.
Just before the half-hour mark the visitors went in front with a goal from Hill. A corner from
Mckenna Campbell-Turkalj (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) came off a DePaul defender on the edge of the six-yard box before Hill was the first to react, stabbing it home from close range to give NIU a 2-1 lead in the 27th minute.
The first save of the game by either goalkeeper came in the 39th minute as the ball deflected to Sierra Bennett for DePaul inside the NIU box. Her low shot was comfortably scooped up by Devory as the Huskies took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
Six minutes after the intermission, Gardner netted her second goal of the contest. Similar to the first goal of the game, da Silva's corner to the back post found the head of Gardner. He downward header beat Devory to even the match at 2-2.
In the 77th minute,
Dahlia Rodriguez (Round Lake, Ill./Grayslake Central) earned a free kick just over 20 yards from goal.
Monica Correa (Des Plaines, Ill./Saint Viator) stepped up to take the free kick and the shot went just wide of the top corner as the contest remained tied.
Five minutes later, da Silva had a chance for DePaul as she cut to her left near the top of the box before firing a low shot that was stopped by Devory as the Huskies and Blue Demons played to a draw.
NIU will return to action on Sunday, Aug. 23, when the Huskies host Northern Iowa. Kickoff against the Panthers is scheduled for 2 p.m. and admission is free of charge.
