As the NIU women’s soccer team returns from its Chicago road swing, the Huskies look to fine tune their play before MAC competition begins next week.

The Huskies (2-2-2) fell to Loyola 1-0 Friday and battled to a 1-1 tie with DePaul Sunday evening.

Junior Jestina Orlando scored her team-leading second goal of the season early in the first half on Sunday. Her goal was assisted by Kelly Mullany and Maddie Lehman.

“We had a lot of good opportunities in front of the goal with a lot of near misses, but it was nice to finally score a goal,” said associate head coach Paul Jobson. “The girls did a great job battling and never giving up.”

The Blue Demons responded at the 58-minute mark, scoring on sophomore goalkeeper Lindsey Curnock to prevent their fifth loss of the season. The Huskies outshot DePaul 12-8 in the contest and 2-0 in overtime.

“It was a great all-around team effort. Everyone worked really hard today,” Orlando said. “After Friday’s loss, everyone was pretty sour and we all wanted to come back from it.”

The Huskies struggled early in the first road match of the season. Loyola outshot the Huskies 8-4 in the first half with the goal coming in the game’s 27th minute.

“We didn’t really play well in the first half,” Jobson said. “We played very well in the second half, but we were battling back. Loyola is a good team, and if you don’t play well, they’re going to put you away.

“Other than the first half on Friday, I felt like we had a really good weekend,” Jobson added. “The girls did a great job battling and never giving up.”

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