Thursday afternoon saw the end of the home careers for seven NIU field hockey players. And based on their performance, it’s too bad for head coach Laurie Bell.

On Thursday, it was too bad for the Michigan State University field hockey team.

The visiting Spartans held the Huskies to a scoreless tie for 35 minutes of the match. But in the second half, the floodgates opened as NIU poured six goals into Michigan States’s net.

It was the fifth win of the year and second in two weeks over Michigan State for the Huskies.

Senior Amy Lynn started the second-half barrage, putting home a blast off a penalty corner, just 1:30 after the intermission. Freshman Kristen Felter then scored the first of her two goals, hitting in a rebound to make it 2-0 at the six-minute mark. Felter then struck again, working a fast-break move with Lynn to beat goalie Becky Johnson for a 3-0 cushion.

But the scoring was not over yet. Sophomore Maikke Schroeder coverted off another penalty corner to put the Huskies up 4-0. That score also gave senior Debbie Beans the first of her three assists of the afternoon. Beans and Schroeder both received assists on sophmore Kristina Hahn’s blast off yet another penalty corner with 3:19 remaining to move the margin to 5-0.

Beans finished off her assist hat-trick when she passed to senior Nichole Getner, who pounced on a loose ball in front of the net to move the tally to 6-0.

On the defensive end, senior Jenny Van Deft was flawless in the net, stopping six Spartan shots to record her third career shutout.

“I thought we did a much better job in the second half,” Bell said. “We didn’t play extremely well in the first half; we weren’t playing as a team. We did a great job to come back and take charge in the second half.”

For Van Delft, the shutout had special meaning, coming in her last game at Huskie Stadium. “It was really nice for Stevie (Van Delft’s nickname) to finish at home with a shutout,” Bell added.

As for Felter, her two markers were the first of her Huskie career. “Kristen did a great job today. She really hustled all the way through,” Bell said.

The Huskies hope to keep their momentum for this weekend with two matches, including powerhouse University of Iowa Saturday and University of Michigan Sunday in Ann Arbor, MI.