The NIU women’s soccer team scored first in its games against Bowling Green State and Toledo this weekend. But the Huskies couldn’t win either game against the Falcons and Rockets rallied for wins.

On Friday against BGS, the Huskies (1-7-1, 1-4 MAC) scored twice in the first 18 minutes, only for the Falcons to score four unanswered goals.

Jane Mucci scored the first goal less than five minutes into the game, kicking in a centering pass from Katie Klaas. At 17:10, Jill Heikkila headed in a Mucci pass to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.

The Falcons tied the game before halftime with two goals that followed corner kicks.

The first was scored by Mandy Smith when she kicked in a ball that bounced off a Huskie player, and the second was by Beth Rieman.

The Falcons took the lead 21 minutes into the second half when Rieman floated the ball over the head of Huskie goalkeeper Akkiko Iwabuchi. Annmarie Aparo scored an insurance goal eight minutes later.

Coach Frank Horvat doesn’t think the Falcons are a better team than the Huskies.

“They didn’t score any kind of a great goal today,” Horvat said. “They got every bounce. (The ball) bounced right to their players. We’re just not getting those bounces. I don’t want to focus on the four we gave up. I want to focus on the two we scored. I want to focus on the effort. There’s no way that we should be down 4-2. Even 2-2 at half.”

Mucci’s goal and assist were her first points since Nov. 2, 1999, in a MAC quarterfinal game against Central Michigan.

“It took a lot of pressure off me,” she said. “I was starting to think, ‘Once I score that first goal, then (the pressure) was off my back’ and that felt a lot better.”

Sunday, on Senior Appreciation day, the Huskies took a 1-0 lead before the Rockets scored two goals for the win.

Mucci scored the first goal 12:04 into the game, heading in a pass from Katie Kieffer.

Before halftime, the Rocket got on the board on Melissa Lesage’s goal following a corner kick. Lesage headed in a pass from Corrie Hasenjager with five minutes left for the game-winning goal.

“We definitely outplayed them,” Horvat said. “Both goalkeepers kept both teams in the game. Katy Boll came up with big saves and their keeper (Elise Donovan) played much better than any scouting report we got.”

Despite the losses, Horvat still is proud of the way his team is playing.

“Right now we’re not seeing the rewards of our efforts,” he said. “Each game is going to get more and more competitive. These are two that we really wanted to make sure we had. This just puts more pressure on us, but we’re capable.”

Note: A schedule change was announced over the weekend. The Oct. 31 game against Northwestern, originally scheduled for 2 p.m. at Huskie Soccer Field, will be played at 6:30

p.m. at Huskie Stadium.