Women’s soccer locked in the seventh seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, despite losing its regular season finale Thursday.

The Huskies (8-9-1, 5-6-0 MAC) fell to the Western Michigan University Broncos (10-7-1, 5-5-1 MAC), 1-0, on a windy day at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex.

The Broncos goal came in the 60th minute by Grace Labadie after a free kick.

It was NIU’s third consecutive game being shutout by a score of 1-0.

Head Coach John Ross said Western Michigan is a good possession team, and it’s tough for the Huskies to win back balls if they’re not putting on pressure.

“I think we stayed focus and kept working and created a couple chances there at the end,” Ross said. “I know the one that just slipped by the back post, somebody was almost there. We had another one that was bouncing around the in-line. We created our chances. We just got to make sure we put one home.”

The Broncos outshot the Huskies 12-10, but NIU held a 6-4 edge in shots on goal. It was a physical game with the Huskies committing 20 fouls to the Broncos 14.

Ross said the conditions made the game difficult for the team to find a rhythm with the way the ball was moving.

“It was a tough day as the wind made it very difficult to play a clean game,” said Ross, according to NIU Media Services. “It hurt us offensively because if you didn’t make clean passes the ball was going to go off the field.”

NIU will face the Ball State University Cardinals noon Sunday in Muncie, Indiana in a rematch of last season’s MAC quarterfinals. The Huskies knocked off the Cardinals last season in a penalty kick shootout.

The Huskies took the 3-2 overtime win Oct. 8 against the Cardinals on a golden goal from Sophomore forward Kyleigh Dominguez.

The Huskies have only scored one goal in their last five games since the overtime win at Ball State.

The MAC quarterfinal matchup against Ball State is set for 1 p.m. Sunday in Muncie, Indiana.the winner advances to the semifinal matchup Nov. 3.