Cori Frankenberg
Junior Cori Frankenberg scored Northern Illinois’ golden goal in the fourth minute of play as the Huskies (3-3) defeated Eastern Illinois (2-5), 1-0.
The Appleton, Wis. native notched her third game-winner of the season against the Panthers.
“We did a great job of creating scoring chances in the first half and it showed early with Cori’s goal. She had a great finish to give us the early lead,” said head coach John Ross. “However, we need to do a better job of finishing as a whole. We had a lot of opportunities to score goals and we didn’t take advantage of those today.”
The Huskies opened with a pair of corner kicks, putting a shot wide of the target on the second attempt. Just over a minute later, Frankenberg struck on when a blocked shot rebounded five yards right of the net to score her third goal of the season.
NIU continued to pressure in the first stanza, totaling 13 shots and six frame. The Huskies finished with 17 total shots in the match.
Sophomore Lauren Noonan, who took four shots in the match to tie with Frankenberg for the match-high, nearly slotted her first goal of the season in the 42nd minute but sent it off the post to deny Northern Illinois’ second goal.
Defensively the Huskies were steadfast and surly, blocking three of the Panthers seven shot and did not allow a single shot on frame. Goalkeeper Amy Carr stood in net for the total 90 to earn her third win and shutout of the season and owns a 0.73 goals against average between the sticks.
“In the second half, we did a great job of defending. We knew Eastern was going to come back with a vengeance and we did not allow them many chances on offense,” added Coach Ross.
NIU returns home at noon Sunday, Sept. 16, for its final non-conference match of the season against South Dakota.
For more information on NIU women’s soccer and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
