DeKALB, Ill. - The IUPUI women's soccer team dropped its season opener by a 1-0 score at Northern Illinois on Friday night. The Jaguars were outshot 16-4 in defeat in the second match of the Northern Illinois Tournament at the Huskie Soccer Complex.
"They played totally direct," IUPUI head coach Chris Johnson said. "They were big and fit all over the field, and were able to play the ball over top of us. I don't think there were more than four consecutive passes in the first half.
"We just couldn't get into our offense."
Meanwhile, Northern Illinois (1-0) got all the offense they would need with just less than 16 minutes left in the first half. After an NIU direct kick from midfield bounded around inside the IUPUI 18-yard box, Jestina Orlando was able to head a diagonal shot from the right side past IUPUI sophomore goalkeeper Jamie Farrell for the eventual game-winner.
Otherwise, Farrell was flawless, making four saves behind a defense that allowed very few clean looks.
"They took a lot of their shots from distance and Jamie was able to handle them," Johnson said. "Our freshman outside backs were more focused on defense, but couldn't get us into our offense.
"We just need to develop a way to build our offense aside from just counter attacking."
IUPUI (0-1) was limited to just two shots on goal, coming from Lisa Gebhard and freshman Stacy Levack in the second half.
"I thought Lisa (Gebhard) played a great game for us. She had a couple of giveaways in the first half, but really stepped up after that," Johnson said. "And I thought MaryBeth (McMillan) and Cara (Hartman) did some good stuff in terms of winning balls for us."
NIU outshot IUPUI 12-1 in the first half and got a game-high five attempts from Maddie Lehman. Huskie goalkeeper Lindsey Curnock made two saves in the shutout win.
"I like where we're at and I know we're going to be okay," Johnson said.
IUPUI will take on national powerhouse Navy (0-0-1) on Sunday in the conclusion of the four-team event. Navy played Iowa to a 1-1 tie on Friday and is coming off a 20-win season that saw them reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Game time is slated for 2:00 p.m..
"Navy might be a little faster up top than NIU was, but we're going to have to work on generating some offense and spreading the field."
