If only the NIU women’s soccer team’s season could have ended the way it began.

After starting the season with a record of 4-0-3, which was the team’s all-time record for an unbeaten streak, the Huskies stumbled late in conference play to miss the post-season for the fifth consecutive season.

“This season was a lot to build on for us and we made progress towards being more competitive,” NIU coach Frank Horvat said. “The last two weeks we were in a situation we really haven’t been in and maybe we weren’t as prepared as we could have been.”

Early in the season, NIU was carried by the steady play of junior goalkeeper Carrie Dvorak and the offense of junior Christie Ehrhardt, who led the team with 11 points on the season.

Dvorak allowed only four goals in the first seven games and helped a struggling Huskies offense that managed only one goal in five consecutive matches.

They still found a way to win two of those matches with shutouts and they tied the other three to remain unbeaten.

“Everyone saw what happened when we work hard,” Ehrhardt said. “We knew why we lost and what we could do to improve on it.”

The Huskies were unbeaten through their first four MAC games – their best start ever in conference play – but were winless in their next four to put their postseason hopes in question.

The Huskies needed to win their final two conference games to qualify for the MAC championship, but went on a four-game skid that saw only one Huskies goal.

“We had some unfortunate scheduling with seven of our 12 MAC games on the road,” Horvat said. “But I don’t want to make excuses; we just didn’t make our own luck and didn’t get any breaks when we needed them.”

The Huskies will lose only one senior, Jamie Figura, for next season and will look to their juniors for leadership next season.

“I think I will need to be more vocally demanding next season,” said Angeline Impelido, who was named to the All-MAC second team. “We’re going to need to all have the same positive attitude and just become more team oriented.”