“We have to finish.”

This is the simple message given to the NIU women’s soccer team from head coach Carrie Barker. It remains an important message, however, after the Huskies were shut out twice last weekend by conference opponents despite heavily out-shooting both.

“We played really well last week, but came away with nothing,” Barker said. “Things just didn’t go our way.”

The Huskies will try to change that momentum this weekend when they hit the road for a pair of conference road games against Kent State and Buffalo. It will be the team’s first trip in nearly a month.

NIU (4-6-2, 0-2-2 MAC) will need that focus when it squares off with Kent State (6-5-0, 2-2-0) this afternoon. The Golden Flashes are coming off of back-to-back losses to MAC-leading Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan.

“Playing at Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan is a difficult road trip,” said Flashes head coach Rob Marinaro. “We’ve played three of the top five teams in the MAC so far. If we continue to stay positive and keep working hard, we will come out with positive results.”

On Sunday, the Huskies will find themselves pitted against a team who recently suffered the same fate as the Golden Flashes. Buffalo (1-10-1, 0-3-1) is returning home after consecutive road losses to the conference leaders.

Despite suffering the same fate last weekend, the Bulls’ season has been much different than Kent State’s.

Buffalo has been outscored by opponents 22-5, with no player having more than one goal.

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