DeKALB — The NIU women’s soccer team was shut out 4-0 when they hosted the Ohio University Bobcats on Sunday.

Ohio was aggressive on its attacks in the first half, attempting eight shots toward the net while NIU had zero.

Goalkeeper Julia Lentz allowed two goals by the Bobcats in the first twenty minutes of play, but also recorded two saves to keep the Huskies in contention early on.

“Overall, I would say I had a few good saves,” Lentz said. “I think there were a few parts that I could have tuned up a little bit to make a better save or try to get myself a better chance to make a save for the goals that were scored.”

On the offensive side, the Huskies simply were not able to keep the ball in close proximity to the Bobcats’ goal, only doing so for approximately 54 seconds of  the 45-minute period. Instead, the Bobcats were in the driver’s seat, keeping NIU by its net for over 13 minutes.

“I think there were moments that we implemented our game plan well,” redshirt senior midfielder Grace Louis said. “We made some little mistakes that cost us big time.”

As the opening periods winded down to the final seconds, the Huskies were able to hold off a late scoring push led by sophomore forward Julianna Farina of Ohio. 

After being down 2-0 at halftime, the Huskies attempted to make adjustments to the game plan to contain the Bobcats as they headed into the second period. 

“(In the first half,) we played with more midfielders,” Louis said. “Then in the second half, (we) tried to play with more forwards. I just don’t think we were on the same page.” 

In the back half, the Bobcats scored once again with their third point of the match from graduate midfielder Madison Clayton. The goal was assisted by sophomore forward Shae Robertson.

Ten minutes afterwards, senior midfielder Haley Miller followed suit with a goal of her own assisted by Clayton, putting the Huskies down 4-0 with over 17 minutes left to play.

Neither team would add another point before the clock hit triple zeroes. Ohio’s offensive attack proved to be more efficient, ending the match with 19 shots and 4 goals. The Huskies only attempted three shots and were unable to connect on any of them.

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 4-10 on the season. Their final five games of the 2021 campaign will all be played against Mid-American Conference opponents.

In preparation for their next contest, NIU will look to keep a positive mentality and “work through the moments that feel like failure.”

“I think we gotta fine tune some of our technical work and our tactical decisions,” head coach Julie Colhoff said. “(We have to) continue to push through it and recognize there’s still opportunities on the table that we gotta fight for.”

The Huskies will make their next appearance on the field when they travel to Akron, Ohio, to take on the MAC rival Akron Zips. The game is set to kick off at 6 p.m. Thursday.