Battling the heat and inexperience as well as Illinois State, the NIU women’s soccer team came up short Sunday afternoon at Huskie Soccer Field, losing 0-2.

Ty Winkelhake scored from 6-yards out 8:34 into the game, putting the Huskies down early.

“On paper, Illinois State is a better team, but we took a major step forward with our play today,” NIU coach Frank Horvat said. “We made two mistakes on defense, and you can’t make those errors against a good team like ISU.”

After the opening goal, Leigh Steigerwald kept the ball out of the net, making an array of diving stops until Winkelhake scored her second goal of the game in the 84th minute. After a NIU foul, Winkelhake converted the free kick from the top of the penalty box.

Katie Klaas was the only Huskie to test ISU goal keeper Allison Farrington as NIU was outshot 31-3 and managed just a single shot on goal, none in the second half.

To NIU’s credit, the Huskies’ defense, led by freshman Kelly Kelso and junior Anne Roman, buckled down and held tight against the aggressive Redbirds.

“We did some good things defensively today,” Horvat said. “I’m not happy we didn’t win, but ISU scored 11 goals on us in the last two years. We played hard today, and we can take a lot of positive thoughts from our effort.”