NIU women’s soccer coach Frank Horvat has said many times this season that his team is playing well but not finishing its scoring chances.

After two more losses over the weekend to Buffalo 2-1 and Eastern Michigan 2-0, his feelings still are the same.

“I can’t ask them for anything more than what they’re giving me other than to finish our good chances,” Horvat said after Sunday’s loss to EMU.

The two losses drop the Huskies to 1-9-1 overall and 1-6 in the MAC with only five more conference games to play.

On Friday against Buffalo, the Huskies and Bulls held each other scoreless for the first half with the Huskies outshooting them 4-3 on goal and 9-3 overall.

Thirteen minutes into the second half, the Bulls broke the scoreless tie when Lauren West scored off a centering pass from Paula Sinclair. NIU’s Denise Papke tied the game for the Huskies at 75:28, when she rebounded a Katie Klaas shot that was stopped by Buffalo goalkeeper Emily Cox.

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth Pfeffer scored what proved to be the game winner.

“We’re doing alright in the middle of the field, but we’re making mistakes at the end,” Horvat said of the team’s missed opportunities. “We hit the post once and had a breakaway but couldn’t get the goal when we needed it.”

Sunday’s shutout loss to Eastern Michigan was their first since Sept. 23.

In a scoreless first half, the Huskies outshot the Eagles 6-0 on goal. But in the second half, the Eagles outshot the Huskies 9-4 on goal with two of them finding the net.

The first goal was scored by Jessica Hupe as she headed in a centering pass from Michele Lawrence at 73:15. The second was scored by Katie Lewis who kicked in a centering pass from Amanda Kulikowski.

“I feel this is one of the best teams in our conference,” Horvat said. “We caused them to play bad today. Our play from our 18 box to the attacking 18 box is very good. We created opportunities for ourselves. We’re just not finishing them.

“On our defensive end from the 18 box to the goal line, there’s always a minute or two there that we have a mental lapse.”

Horvat says the team had a mental lapse on the Eagles’ first goal.

“Nobody turned to watch the ball,” he said. “Everybody turned and faced our goal, and it’s frustrating that nobody was on top of the ball. They as players have got to identify that.”