Tough weekend pays off for women’s soccer

By DERRICK SMITH

One hundred and ten scoreless minutes passed before NIU women’s soccer got their win in overtime.

The Huskies (3-0-1) won a double-overtime decision over Northern Iowa Friday and tied Green Bay Sunday afternoon after 110 scoreless minutes and remains unbeaten in the 2008 season following a tough weekend on the road.

“Playing that many minutes wears mentally and physically on your body, but we showed a lot of character,” said NIU head coach Carrie Barker. “[The weekend] was a great test and we came out learning something from the games.”

NIU out-shot Green Bay 17-12 Sunday. Senior Jenna Clausen and junior Lisa Maier led the offense with two shots on goal each.

The Huskies held strong defensively, as goalkeeper Lindsey Curnock made four saves in the match, three of which came in overtime.

“They did everything they could,” Barker said. “We had chances to put the game away, but it just wasn’t our day to come out with a win.”

Friday’s outcome proved much more pleasing for NIU, walking away with a 3-2 victory after 105 minutes on the pitch. Last week’s MAC Player of the Week Thea Johnson had a career-best four-point performance while freshman Kelsey Passaglia scored the game-winning goal.

Johnson scored 15 minutes into the match and assisted on sophomore Becca Fords’ goal three minutes later to give the Huskies a quick 2-0 lead. The Panthers then scored at 30:42 and tallied another goal in the game’s 66th minute to tie the game at 2-2.

The two teams played a scoreless first overtime before Passaglia nailed her first collegiate goal at 105:24.

“Our character came through on Friday,” Barker said. “We made some mistakes and let them come back, but we looked very good in overtime.”

It took a total team effort to come away with an unbeaten weekend. Barker mentioned how the individual accomplishments all stemmed from the whole team creating the opportunities. Ford agrees.

“The whole team played hard, from the starters to bench players,” Ford said. “The bench players played a huge role for us. They sparked the team.”