Oct. 19, 2001

Stats

OXFORD, Ohio-In a physical Mid-American Conference battle Friday afternoon at Miami Soccer Field, Miami University scored once in each half to overpower Northern Illinois University, 2-0, and earn its third shutout win in the past five games.

Miami seized the lead in the early going when senior Julie Grosso (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) capitalized on assists by juniors Andrea Cunningham (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) and Danielle Berkemeier (Fairfield, Ohio/Fairfield) and tallied her first goal of the season with a straight-on shot from the center of the box. The Red and White controlled much of the first half, outshooting the Huskies 7-2 in the frame.

Northern Illinois began to assert itself in the second frame and threatened to even the score on several occasions before being turned away by Miami netminder Katie Karlander (Carmel, Ind./Syracuse), who tallied five saves on the afternoon, and the RedHawk defense. Danielle Altiero (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) was able to bring the game back under Miami's control at 74:25, when she headed in a Berkemeier cross kick.

"I'm very pleased with the way we played today," Head Coach Bobby Kramig said. "Northern Illinois is a very good team, and they made us work hard to play our style of soccer. It was a well-played game, and I think that's a credit to both teams."

For the game, Miami held a 16-7 advantage in shots and 5-2 edge in corner kicks while placing eight shots on net. NIU goalkeeper Katy Boll made six saves in the loss, as Northern Illinois dropped to 2-10-1 and 2-7-0 in the MAC.

With the win, Miami moved to 9-5-0 and 6-2-0 in the MAC, staying tied with Ohio University for the fewest league losses this season. The RedHawks return to action Sunday when they face Western Michigan University in a key MAC contest at 1 p.m. The first 500 M-League youth soccer players at Sunday's match receive an 8X10 color photograph of the team.