NIU women’s soccer’s 2025 season came to an end on Oct. 29 in a 2-1 defeat against Ball State University. The Huskies hoped to build on their disappointing 2024 season – where they finished eighth in the Mid-American Conference – but, unfortunately, they succumbed to some of the same issues early in the season, such as slow starts and an inability to convert chances.
Though there were good flashes such as the 1-0 victory against the future MAC champions Western Michigan University, the Huskies could not build momentum and ended the season in 11th place (4-10-3, 2-7-2 MAC) with 8 points.
After covering the team, here are my greatest takeaways from the Huskies’ let-down season.
LACK OF CHANCE CREATION & FINISHING
Overall, the offensive output was lackluster when compared to last season. The Huskies struggled with finishing their goal-scoring opportunities, being outscored 28-9 for an average of 0.53 goals per game; a massive dip from their 29 goal total from the 2024 season.
Overall shots also saw a major decrease from 226 (118 on target) in 2024 to 157 (72 on target) in 2025, 11th in the MAC. NIU’s shot on goal percentage dropped slightly to around 46%, meaning NIU was generating good opportunities but not nearly enough to be a consistent offensive threat, failing to score more than two goals in any game.
In the team’s four wins, the Huskies won by a margin of one goal while being shut out in 10 games.
Key players such as junior forward Tyra King, senior forward Kelsi McLaughlin and senior defender Aubrey Robertson all saw decreased minutes played from 2024 to 2025.
King
2024: 19 GP (games played) & 1.411 minutes
2025: 16 GP & 1,077 minutes
McLaughlin
2024: 19 GP & 1,271 minutes
2025: 17 GP & 1,114 minutes
Robertson
2024: 19 GP 1,462 minutes
2025: 14 GP & 1,132 minutes
Unfortunate injuries to key players like King early in the season and squad rotation explain the minutes decrease and might explain the dramatic drop in offensive output.
In the Huskies’ 10 defeats and three draws, they outshot their opponents in five of those games: St. Thomas (0-0), Toledo (1-1), Akron (0-0), Bowling Green (0-1) and Ball State (1-2).
In particular, the results versus MAC opponents proved to be costly as the Huskies were only able to collect eight of 33 total points available. Considering the losses listed were lost by a single goal, any additional goal could have made the difference.
INCONSISTENT FORM
While the Huskies picked up a win against WMU, their other victories were against struggling teams in DePaul University, Eastern Illinois University and Central Michigan University. Despite these victories, NIU couldn’t string consecutive victories, making it hard to establish consistent form.
Slow starts seemed to be the story this season for NIU, with 72 total shots in the first half compared to 85 in the second half. Had they been able to convert more chances early on instead of down the stretch, the season would’ve looked much different.
A season that had higher expectations once again ended in frustration for the Huskies as they could not overcome setbacks. At times when they looked their best, they did not take advantage.
