Coming off a disappointing loss against Valparaiso Wednesday, the Huskies returned to MAC conference play Saturday, battling Bowling Green to a 0-0 draw.

After poor starts in the last three games for NIU (3-8-3, 2-1-1 MAC), the Huskies came out much stronger in the first 30 minutes. They kept most of the possession and put the Falcons (5-7-3, 2-2-1 MAC) on their back foot.

The best scoring opportunity of the first half came from junior forward James Stevenson in the 30th minute. Stevenson lunged at a loose ball in the box and forced a decent reaction save from the Bowling Green keeper.

The second half saw Bowling Green on more of the ball. In the 55th minute, Falcons striker Anthony Grant ran onto the ball and forced NIU senior keeper Jordan Godsey to make an athletic diving save.

Bowling Green coach Eric Nichols said his team played well in a tough conference game.

“I thought we played with a lot of guts today,” Nichols said. “I’ve been here [at Bowling Green] for three years and Northern Illinois has been fantastic every year, and they really handed it to us. So our first challenge was to be able to stand up to them and to play with them, so we showed a lot of guts today.”

Freshman Matt Pritchard gave NIU a boost off the bench, having the best scoring chance of the game in the 84th minute. Pritchard took a shot from a long throw in, but saw it cleared off the line by a Falcons defender.

The game went into overtime scoreless, and despite the Huskies putting pressure on the Falcons defense, the game ended 0-0.

Godsey was frustrated by NIU’s lack of goals, even after recording the 31st shutout of his career.

“It’s just frustrating,” Godsey said, “Our luck this year hasn’t been too good. Nothing is falling for us right now. Holding them at zero is always good for the defense and stuff for our team, but hopefully they start falling.”

NIU coach Eric Luzzi said his team keeps doing the right things on the field.

“It’s kind of the same thing over and over,” Luzzi said. “[I] Just told the guys try and manage their frustration so they don’t keep extra pressure on themselves, because we continue to do 90 percent of things right. It’s the last 10 percent of finishing chances [that is missing].”