The season continues as the NIU women’s soccer team advances to the second round of the MAC Tournament.

NIU defeated Ohio 1-0 Sunday and will travel to Muncie, Ind., to face second-seeded Toledo in the semifinals Friday. The third-seeded Huskies (10-5-4, 7-3-2) marched to victory after Jenna Clausen’s goal midway through the first half.

Clausen’s score followed a shot taken by sophomore Kelly Mullany. Mullany’s shot was blocked by the Bobcat goalkeeper and Clausen scored on the rebound. It was the junior’s first goal of the season.

“This whole season, we’ve been working on following up on shots and that’s what I was thinking and I was right there at the right time to score,” Clausen said.

Goalkeeper Lindsey Curnock made all of her four saves in the second half to preserve the victory. The sophomore tied the NIU record for eight shutouts in a season.

“Obviously, this is a huge win for our team. The girls came out and were sharp from the beginning of the game,” said head coach Marci Miller-Jobson. “The defenders played great. It’s not just our backs, our defense starts with our forwards and how they pressure. It was great team defense and Lindsey came up with great saves and really played well back there.”

NIU now looks forward to a rematch of last season’s MAC Championship game. The Huskies lost that game 2-1 and fell to the Rockets earlier this season 4-1.

“We are all pretty pumped about that just because they’ve beaten us,” Clausen said. “They beat us pretty bad, but I think we’re out to get them and we have a very good chance. I think we’ll beat them.”

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