While there will be no MAC Tournament for the NIU women’s soccer team, there is still one game to be played that has some implications to it.

The Huskies (6-11, 4-8 MAC) will take on in-state rival DePaul University at 2:00 pm. today at Huskie Soccer Field. NIU will look to match its combined win total of the previous two seasons after winning four games in 2000 and just three last year.

However, the Blue Demons are a much improved team and at 9-7-1 are looking to reach double-digit victories for the first time in school history. This is definitely not the same team that lost 8-0 to the Huskies back in 1996.

“They have a very good freshmen class, and they’ve got a freshman that plays center-mid for them, and she’s extremely good,” coach Frank Horvat said. “They’ve been extremely competitive in Conference USA. They’re like every single team on our schedule, and like I’ve been saying all year, every team is beatable, but so are we. It’s just a matter of who wants it more and who executes.”

The freshman class has led DePaul’s resurgence as its top three goal scorers are freshmen. Freshman Julianne Sitch leads the Blue Demons with seven goals and 17 points.

Despite not making the eight-team MAC Tournament, NIU did improve on more than just their record. They improved defensively, allowing just over two goals a game and improved their scoring by four goals with today’s game still to play.

With its come-from-behind win on Sunday over Bowling Green, NIU will be looking to end the season on a two-game winning streak. With no seniors, the Huskies will treat this game as if it was a preview of next season.

“I think it’s important that we win and go out and give it our all,” junior Maggie Nowicki said. “It has to be like the start of next year. I think we can win this game, and that will help our confidence for next year.”

While the season didn’t go exactly as Horvat planned, there were still a lot of positives to take away and build on for next year.

“You got to look at the heart and the character that this team is developing as individuals and as a group,” Horvat said. “We really had nothing but pride to play for on Sunday, and we beat Bowling Green, the number four seed.”

“If we can beat the number four seed, what does that say about us? It just shows that we have the nucleus here and we need to mature and grow a bit more, but we’re getting there.”

Co-captain Nowicki echoed Horvat’s feelings regarding this season.

“I think we’ve come a long way, and we’ve gotten some new talent, some new energy,” she said “It’s disappointing because every game we’ve played in, we could’ve won.”