Women’s soccer has a big weekend ahead with playoff spots on the line.

The Huskies (4-9-3, 2-4-2 MAC) will face the Kent State Golden Flashes 7 p.m. Friday at NIU Soccer and Track and Field Complex. It will be their first night home game this season. The Huskies will then face the Ohio Bobcats (6-5-5, 2-3-3 MAC) 1 p.m. Sunday at the

complex.

The Huskies enter the weekend holding onto eighth place in the conference, with Akron and Toledo tied for ninth place. As the MAC tournament only seeds eight teams, NIU is right on the edge and hoping to leap frog up in the standings. Head Coach John Ross isn’t letting his players worry about that yet.

“We’re just worrying about what we can control,” Ross said. “If we can take care of our business, we’re going to be all right. Every year in the MAC, it always comes down to the last game of the year.”

Friday’s opponent, Kent State, is second in the MAC behind a four-way tie for first place. The Golden Flashes feature a strong offensive group led by striker Jessacca Gironda, who is second in the conference for goals scored, with 10. Their offense is averaging 15.81 shots and 1.38 goals per game. Senior forward Cori Frankenberg believes a good defensive performance will give the team its best chance to win.

“They’ve always been aggressive on the attack,” Frankenberg said. “That’s something our defense really has to prepare for with a quick counter.”

As Friday is the first home night game, the players are excited.

“The night atmosphere gives you that feeling of professionalism,” Frankenberg said. “You look forward to it because you have the whole day in anticipation of kickoff.”

The Ohio Bobcats present another big challenge for the Huskies. The Bobcats score early and dominate in the second half. They have only allowed five second-half goals, while scoring 16 goals. The first half tells a different story: Ohio has only scored six goals in the first half, allowing 14 goals. Ross attributes Ohio’s second-half dominance to its conditioning.

“When you see teams do really well in the second half, it says a lot about their fitness and their work rate,” Ross said. “We have to go into the game understanding that. It’s going to be a battle from the beginning to the end.”

Senior defender Lauren Solomon thinks the team understands how Ohio works and will be able to use that to its advantage.

“Ohio uses their set pieces a lot,” Solomon said. “That’s how they scored on us last year. We have to work really hard on that and not give up as many fouls around our box or closer in so they can’t get a cross in. Offensively and defensively we have to get the ball out. Offensively, we have to win the ball.”

Sunday’s game holds a special significance for the senior players, as it is Senior Day. Frankenberg expects the team to come out motivated.

“We always come out strong on Senior Day,” Frankenberg said. “We look forward to Senior Day because we can expect a good battle and a good game out of everyone. It unifies our team. The camaraderie on the field really shows.”