A beautiful day was topped off with a win for the women’s soccer team.

The Huskies (4-6) had something to cheer about yesterday as they defeated Valparaiso University (0-12) by a score of 3-0.

“I’m really happy with our overall play,” said head coach Frank Horvat.

The first half was an impressive show of intensity and hustle on the part of the Huskies who came away from the half with three goals.

The Huskie’s hustle was characterized by the 29 shots they took and their 14 shots on goal.

The first Huskie goal was put in by freshman midfielder Kristin Raynolds with just 6:39 gone in the half. The shot was a 14-yarder from the right center.

NIU did a tremendous job in keeping the field spread and attacking the goal which was a key in their scoring barrage.

Their work payed off again when junior Deb Vickers connected to sophomore Heather Palombi for the Huskie’s second goal of the game.

Sophomore forward Beth Pomles provided the Huskies with their final goal as the clock ticked down to 6:37 in the first half.

“It was a good effort by everyone,” Horvat commented.

Pomles and Raynolds did an exceptional job. Pomles was all over the field taking eight shots on the afternoon and five shots on goal.

Raynolds also covered a lot of ground. She was just behind Pomles with five shots, two on goal.

This game will hopefully set the tone for the two games coming up against Texas A&M and Detroit-Mercy on Saturday and Monday.

Texas A&M is a first year program like the Huskies, but Texas has managed to fight its way into their region’s top ten. They should be tough competition for NIU.

“They will be the best first-year program we play this year. If we had all of our starters in it would be a heck of a game,” said Horvat.

On Monday the Huskies will face Detroit Mercy for the second time this season. Horvat sees the difference between his team and Detroit as being purely a fatigue factor come Monday. Detroit has a game Sunday while NIU has a day off and a chance to rest.

The biggest obstacle for the team was expected to be the loss of three starters, but in the Valparaiso game the inexperience did not seem to affect the team’s play.

“It was a good game because it was an opportunity to see if we could win without some key players,” said Horvat.

But the true test will be against the better competition of Texas and Detroit in the next four days.