Being bounced from the MAC tournament by no means constitutes an unsuccessful season.

The NIU women’s soccer team finished the season 10-5-5 overall and went 6-3-2 in conference play. The Huskies earned home-field advantage in the postseason after playing near-perfect soccer to finish up the season. NIU was 4-0-1 in their last five regular season games.

In the opening round of the postseason the Huskies posted a 1-0 victory over Ohio. In the semifinals, NIU fell 4-3 on penalty kicks to Toledo after battling for 110 scoreless minutes.

The 2007 campaign marks NIU’s best season in nearly 10 years. For the first time since 1998, the Huskies made consecutive postseason appearances. Their record and third-place finish is also the highest since the 1998 season.

“When you take all that into account you see tremendous growth,” said head coach Marci Miller-Jobson. “This is the best season Northern has had since 1998, but we’re not satisfied with sitting on that. You want to continue to grow and get better.”

The season started a little slow for NIU, but after getting comfortable with each other, the Huskies started to find their niche.

“The beginning of the season is a time to sharpen up,” Miller-Jobson said. “It’s when you continue to improve and put all of the pieces together.”

As the players got into a rhythm, the team started to climb in the standings.

Forward Karen Enockson led the team with six goals on the season.

Goalkeeper Lindsey Curnock made 47 saves while allowing only nine goals with nine shutouts. Defender Katie Sturges headed the defense that was ranked among the top in the MAC in goals-against average (.70).

“We’ve come so far throughout the season,” Sturges said. “This was the most amazing experience and there’s nothing I would’ve changed about it.”

The Huskies will look to continue to work hard and eventually accomplish the goal that they’ve had the last couple of years when Miller-Jobson took over.

“We’re excited for the off season to see the girls grow and get better,” Miller-Jobson said. “Our goal is still to win the MAC Championship and we have good momentum going into the offseason with our success this year.”