It looked as if the NIU women’s soccer team was going to end the season on a high note on Wednesday, but it was not to be as DePaul University defeated NIU 4-1 at Huskie Soccer Field.

The Huskies (6-12, 4-8) got on the board 15:57 into the contest as junior Tiffany Anderson scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season from 4 yards out.

Anderson scored on a three-on-two breakaway with junior Denise Papke and sophomore Katie Kieffer assisting on the goal.

The lead would not last long as 5:35 later the Blue Demons’ Claire Sharkey hit the back of the net off a corner kick to knot things up.

NIU had several opportunities but could not connect. In terms of shots, the two teams were pretty even as the Huskies had seven shots to the Blue Demons’ eight.

“We created dangerous opportunities and we didn’t finish,” Coach Frank Horvat said. “They created dangerous opportunities and half chances and they finished. This is really not a 4-1 game if we finish those first three early. If it’s 3-1 or 3-0, they probably don’t score the rest of the game because our whole mindset and everything is different than what we were doing.”

The second half did not start out as planned for the Huskies as DePaul took advantage of a scoring chance off a corner kick 1:12 in. DePaul’s Ogonnaya Dotson-Newman scored on a header after Sharkey’s attempt hit off the cross bar.

The game turned into a seesaw battle after the Blue Demons go-ahead goal with both teams putting up shots. DePaul, though, almost tripled NIU’s shot total in the second half as they put up 20 shots.

As the game headed into the last 10 minutes, DePaul’s speed began to wear the Huskies down as the Blue Demons put the game away by scoring two late goals.

“I don’t know if we didn’t come ready to play, but the first half was a lot better than the second half,” Papke said. “In the second half our touches were off, our passes were off and we just couldn’t get back in it. It’s real disappointing and we’re all real disappointed losing the last game and not finishing the way we wanted to.”

The last goal came off a penalty kick from Julianne Sitch after she was yanked down in the penalty box. Sitch also added two assists on the day.

“We’re better than this, and we know it,” Horvat said. “But we’re not the better team today because we didn’t win and it all comes down to winning.”

While the 2002 season ended in disappointment, the Huskies now have to turn their attention toward next season. They have no one graduating, and should be able to keep the same squad intact.

Horvat stressed that even though next season is a long way off, it is important that preparation starts now.

“They all need to evaluate themselves and look deep within, because it’s gotta come from within them,” Horvat said. “They all know what they need to work on; we don’t have to tell them what they need to improve on.”

From a team standpoint it is evident that this squad knows what it has to do to be impressive in 2003.

“As far as mentally preparing, it starts now,” Papke said. “We did improve from the past year, so it’s not a disappointing year. But we should expect more out of ourselves and just take it a step further next year.”