This season has been a struggle for Becca Bleyer and the women’s soccer team. The team has only won two of its first 12 games.

With six games left in the regular season, the Huskies are not completely out of the playoff picture. Regardless, the losing has had an effect on the 21-year-old senior captain who is trying to end her college soccer career on a good note.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” Bleyer said. “Being a senior and a captain, you have to compose yourself and not let your emotions show as much as you want to. You have to be the strongest on the team emotionally.”

Bleyer is one of only six Huskies left from the squad that won the 1998 Mid-American Conference Championship.

Friday, Bleyer became the sixth player in the nine-year history of the program to reach the 50-point mark.

“It would be great only because of the other names that I’ll be up there with,” Bleyer said one day before accomplishing the feat. “Anne Mucci, Jane Mucci, Allison Wade, all those girls. I’d love to be in a class with them for doing something equally as well as they did. They’re excellent people.”

Coach Frank Horvat, who’s coached every player to score 50 points at NIU, said Bleyer deserves to be in that class. The accomplishment will be the highlight of Bleyer’s last season if the rest of the team can’t help turn it around.

In her fourth year with the Huskies, Bleyer has a significant role on the team. In addition to being one of the team’s better players, she is also one of four senior captains. In that role, Bleyer wants to set a good example, but one teammate says that she does more than that.

“Becca’s a big influence,” said fellow senior captain Sarah Dickinson. “She’s always talking. She’s always yelling, ‘Get on your man, get to where you need to be.’ She shows a lot through her actions, not just through what she says but what she does. I think people get motivated because of her.”

Prior to NIU, Bleyer had a productive career at Grayslake High School. She had 84 goals and 216 points, second in Grayslake history. She earned all-area and all-sectional honors during that time. Her play got Horvat’s attention.

“Becca had a good touch on the ball, good quickness, some game savvy which for coming out of high school we felt she would be a good match at the time with (then Huskie) Anne Mucci,” Horvat recalled.

Once Bleyer visited NIU and met the team, she was impressed with the atmosphere and made her decision to play for the Huskies.

Bleyer joined a team that won the inaugural MAC tournament the year before. She made an immediate impact, scoring eight goals and recording 20 points which ranked third on the team and helped the Huskies win a second straight MAC title.

“I didn’t expect to get as much playing time as I did, but it was real helpful in my transition from high school to college,” Bleyer said. “My freshman year was a great experience overall because of the championship.”

Bleyer’s sophomore year was a different story. The team lost seniors from the year before, including Mucci, and struggled. Bleyer only had two goals and eight assists.

Bleyer would redeem herself the following year. Horvat moved her from forward to center-midfielder. The change paid off as Bleyer tied for the team lead in goals with six and was second in points with 17. She was a second team All-MAC selection and her teammates voted her Player of the Year.

“Last year, Becca was one of the go-to players,” Horvat said. “That showed that she could step up and fill a go-to player type role and leadership role.”

“I think I really picked myself up and I’m proud of how I turned it around from having a terrible year to having a wonderful year,” Bleyer said. “I built a lot of character in doing that.”

Horvat says that Bleyer has grown on the field both physically and mentally since her freshman year. He said that Bleyer used to get down on herself earlier in her career but has learned to live with her mistakes.

“She’s the type of player that needs a lot of feedback and a lot of constructive criticism,” Horvat said.

Horvat says that because of that he realizes the importance of feedback and constructive criticism in coaching and says it has made him a better coach.

Bleyer says the game of soccer, which she has played since the age of five, has taught her a lot.

“You definitely learn people skills,” she said. “Having 22 girls together can get hectic and you learn how to deal with people on an emotional level. You learn your positives and negatives. I’ve also learned a lot of time management.”

As an elementary education major, Bleyer hopes to become a teacher after college. She would also like to coach soccer someday.

“With all my experience, I think it’ll be a fun thing to do,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot so I think I can give it to somebody else.”