Three out of four scoreless halves for the NIU defense wasn’t enough this weekend.

That was the story for the NIU field hockey team as it shut out the Ohio State Buckeyes for both halves on Friday en route to a 2-0 win, and shut out the Northwestern Wildcats for one half on Sunday.

But the Huskies came up empty against Northwestern despite holding the fourth-ranked team in the nation scoreless for over 65 minutes in the Midwest Collegiate Field Hockey Conference match-up Sunday afternoon at Huskie Stadium.

NIU goalie Jeltje Janssen played extremely well in both contests, but the freshman contributed all that she could in the Huskies 2-0 loss at the hands of the Wildcats.

“I’m extremely pleased with the way she (Janssen) played,” NIU coach Laurie Bell said. “The defense has been outstanding all year so far.”

The play of the other rookie, sweeper Alice Wassmann, has also been superb – especially in the Wildcat game.

“Their keeper and their sweeper did an excellent job on our offense,” Northwestern coach Nancy Stevens said. “It was a very difficult game for us to score. NIU has an excellent team and deserves national recognition.”

The Huskie problem lies on the offensive side of the field.

“We’re not working well enough and being aggressive enough in the circle,” Bell said. “The offense just isn’t clicking on the attack.”

That was the case on Sunday as NIU was unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities throughout the contest.

Laura Wehrman scored in the first half of the Buckeye game and Reggie Vanderwerf put the finishing touches on the game in the second.