Unfortunately for the NIU women’s soccer team, a tradition of winning takes years to accomplish.

Finishing up her third season as NIU head coach, Carrie Barker saw flashes of greatness from her team in 2010.

But the third-year head coach believes it takes more time to develop a consistent winner.

“We haven’t gotten there quite yet,” Barker said. “However, we have come a long way since I first got here and I’m proud of the girls.”

NIU wrapped up its season on Sunday, falling to Central Michigan in the first round of the MAC tournament; finishing the season 9-9-1 overall and 5-6-1 in the MAC.

Compared to 2009, the Huskies won three more conference games and improved four games overall.

“I never compare years,” Barker said. “But we had a great year. We were able to improve consistently and that is something as a coach you can always be proud of.”

Coming into 2010, the Huskie’s roster featured 12 freshmen.

Instead of considering the youngsters as a negative, though, Barker viewed the freshmen as an opportunity for the upperclassmen to grow themselves, as players and leaders.

“We had a lot of young faces this year, but that never bothered us,” Barker said. “Our juniors and seniors did such a great job with the freshmen. Their leadership skills grew over the course of the year and that is a skill that will help them on the soccer field as well as life in general.”

Kicking the season off at home against Creighton, NIU showcased two aspects of its game that would play major roles throughout the season.

In defeating the Bluejays 1-0, NIU notched its first win at home.

The Huskies would go on to finish the year with a 7-1-1 record on their own turf at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex.

“In general our games always seemed to go down to the wire,” said NIU goalkeeper Meaghan Bennett. “But at home we were always really tough to beat.”

Also against Creighton, NIU freshman goalkeeper Amy Carr took home her first of seven shutouts on the year; third most by an NIU goalkeeper in a single season.

While the dominant play at home and Carr’s goaltending kept NIU competitive in 2010, their play on the road ultimately kept them from making a postseason run.

2-8-0 away from home, the Huskies would consistently come out slow and would typically be unable to mount enough offense to come back.

Senior defender Mo Smunt could never understand why the team struggled away from home but still believes the team has a lot to build off of.

“Just by looking at the chemistry that was built between teammates,” the departing Smunt said. “You can tell that the girls are going to be really tough to beat next year.”