Imagine the leading 3-point shooter on a basketball team being wide open, but unable to connect on a basket, watching shot-after-shot rim out.

That’s how associate head women’s soccer coach Paul Jobson describes the scoring opportunities for his team in the young season.

On Friday, NIU won 1-0 in overtime against University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and fell 1-0 to Western Illinois on Sunday.

Against UW-GB, the Huskies (2-1-1) scored a golden goal, with the game winner on a header by sophomore Maddie Lehman in the 98th minute. Sophomore Lisa Maier lofted a corner kick towards the middle of the goal and Lehman connected perfectly with the header.

“We had just been talking about heading off corners, and how I am expected to get on the end of them,” Lehman said. “It was a great ball from Lisa. It was awesome.”

Jobson called it a perfectly executed play – the result of repeated practices that finally paid off.

“That’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do for three years,” Jobson said. “To say we practice that every day is an understatement.”

Emotions and frustrations ran high in the highly competitive match. The Huskies outshot UW-GB 16-3 and led 5-2 in shots on goal, including many near-misses on free-kick restarts.

“In a game when you’re barely missing the target every time, it’s great for somebody to have success on a very clean goal like that,” Jobson said.

Sunday’s match proved to be similar to Friday’s, with the only difference being the final score. NIU won statistically, as they outshot WIU 21-8 but lost on an unassisted free kick from the Westerwinds’ Bess Rapp in the 33rd minute.

“We’re going to give up goals, that’s going to happen,” Jobson said. “Until we start scoring, we’re not putting ourselves in good positions to win.”

NIU’s shutout streak ended at 331:58 in the loss, but Jobson was pleased with the solid defensive play his team has shown thus far. The scoring will eventually come Jobson said, but until it does, the Huskies have to take advantage of the opportunities they are given.

“We have to capitalize on opportunities to put games away a little earlier,” Jobson said.