The gauntlet has been thrown down for the NIU women’s soccer team.

With five games remaining, the Huskies (4-8-2, 0-4-2 MAC) are 11th in the MAC standings.
Only the top eight teams qualify for tournament play.

“We haven’t exactly made it easy on ourselves,” said junior Cara Stutler. “Things can change quickly this weekend.”

The Huskies will have their hands full this weekend as they play their final pair of home games against the top two teams in the conference.

MAC leader Central Michigan (11-3-0, 6-0-0) comes to DeKalb Friday afternoon. Since losing to Michigan State 4-0 on Sept. 6, the Chippewas haven’t allowed a goal in nine straight victories.

NIU head coach Carrie Barker knows they can’t afford to just be in each game at this point.

“We have to play every game left as if it’s the last game of the year,” Barker said. “Our performance this weekend will have a great bearing on our postseason ambitions.”

Things won’t get much easier for the Huskies when Eastern Michigan comes to town Sunday.
The Eagles (7-3-4, 3-1-2) will be playing their final road game of the season as they fight for seeding position in the tournament.

The Huskies will look to take advantage of an EMU team that is yet to register a road win this season, but the Eagles are winners of three of their last four.

With so much on the line, NIU defender Mo Smunt knows the Huskies can’t suffer a hangover from disappointing road losses last weekend against Kent State and Buffalo.

“It’s not that we have been playing bad,” Smunt said. “We have been unlucky.
“It’s now or never,” Stutler said.

Sunday will also be senior day for NIU, where the seniors will be honored for their contributions.

All comments are moderated before being published. We will not edit your comments, but we also will not approve those that are abusive, off-topic, attack another poster or contain information we know to be libelous or false.

During peak weekday viewing times, most comments will be reviewed within six hours. For more detailed information, click here.

After submitting your comment, check below for a confirmation message.

• Your name:
• Enter text from image:
  

• Your comment:

* 300-character count. HTML formatting will not display.