After a disappointing 2024 season in which NIU finished 8th out of 12 teams in the Mid-American Conference, the Huskies’ women’s soccer team looks to improve their chances of winning the conference title for the 2025 season.
Five games in, NIU has a record of 2-2-1 against non-conference opponents, including victories against DePaul University by a score of 1-0 and Eastern Illinois University by a score of 2-1.
The Huskies have also suffered harsh losses, including a 4-0 defeat against the University of Minnesota, and a 2-0 loss against Marquette University. Nonetheless, NIU’s performances leave a lot of room for improvement and polishing up.
Here are three takeaways from the team’s first five games, including both the strengths and improvements NIU should make to prepare for key MAC games.
RELIABLE GOALKEEPING
The most impressive aspect of this Huskie team has been the goalkeeping, led by graduate student Morgan Lucich.
In the first three games, Lucich collected six total saves and two clean sheets. Even in the Huskies’ 2-0 defeat to Marquette, Lucich’s crucial saves kept NIU within reach. Lucich followed up this impressive game with two consecutive clean sheets against a competitive DePaul team and St. Thomas, despite the underwhelming draw.
In the heavy 4-0 defeat to Minnesota, Lucich suffered an injury around the 27th minute that left her out of the game, with senior goalkeeper Amy Stineman taking over.
Shortly after the goalkeeper change, NIU conceded the first after a Stineman save rebounded into another Minnesota player for an easy goal. That shifted momentum with Minnesota scoring three more unanswered goals. Despite the tough loss, Stineman’s four saves prevented further damage.
Stineman followed this performance with another stellar one, saving three shots in NIU’s 2-1 victory over EIU. With Lucich out, Stineman’s presence has been crucial to the team’s performance. Both Lucich and Stephenson have stepped up when absolutely necessary, their performances have made all the difference.
FAILURE TO CONVERT CHANCES/SET PIECE POTENTIAL
Five games in, NIU’s offense has been creating many scoring opportunities, averaging 9.6 shots per game. Regardless, solid goalkeeping from opponents and lack of effective chances in the final third has limited NIU’s potential to a total of only 3 goals.
Against Marquette, NIU had 8 shots, the same amount of total shots as Marquette, but could not score, while the Golden Eagles scored twice.
The scoreless draw against the St. Thomas Tommies was especially frustrating as NIU dominated possession and outshot St. Thomas 15-5 yet were unable to find the back of the net.
In the Huskies’ latest 2-1 victory against EIU, while performing great, the match was too close for comfort. The Huskies dominated,out-shooting the Panthers 17-5 with 12 shots on target. However, NIU needed two late goals from junior forward Tyra King and sophomore forward Alyssa Stephenson to just squeeze out a win.
NIU’s attacking threat has the potential to do real damage once they start to convert more chances. Stephenson leads the team in shots taken with 10 in total and seven on target, so it seems to be a matter of when, and not if, the Huskies’ forwards will find good form.
Set pieces, such as corner kicks can be a prime opportunity to create even deadlier chances and since the Huskies have generated 26 corner kicks, this could be key to unlocking this offense’s true potential.
SLOW STARTS
During the five-game stretch, the Huskies have struggled to find momentum and control early on.
At Marquette, the Huskies went down 2-0 halfway through the first half which proved to be difficult to recover from.
While an unexpected injury to starting goalkeeper Lucich seemingly deflated NIU’s confidence against Minnesota, the team struggled offensively, creating only 1 shot. The recent victory against EIU also saw the Huskies give up another first half goal without a response until the dying moments of the game.
The victory against DePaul was the only instance where the Huskies led first. Conceding early can be a dangerous habit and has the potential to mentally drain a team over the course of a season. So, a more aggressive approach from the kickoff could help the Huskies avoid having to chase their opponent for a win.
The Huskies play their final non-conference game against the University of Wisconsin at 7 p.m. Thursday, where they will look to finish strong before they start their conference slate on Sept. 14. The match against Wisconsin will be streamed on Big Ten Network+ and live stats will be updated on StatBroadcast.
