The Northeastern women’s soccer team had their best season ever in 2004, finishing the year with a record of 12-7-2. Despite losing their all-time leading scorer, Liz Dyjak, to graduation, the Huskies return a large amount of talented weapons to their potent lineup, and after reeling in the fourth best recruiting class in the region, they now have more of them.
“We needed to get more offensive support and solidify our defense,” said NU coach Ed Matz. “In this recruiting class I think we addressed every single need.”
The Huskies will add their talented recruits into the already solid core. Junior Kristen Kowalik and senior Jess Pfeifer will lead the way for NU as they kick off Northeastern’s inaugural season as members of the Colonial Athletic Association. And the incoming freshmen should help open things up for Northeastern’s top two guns.
“Whenever we played an equal or better team last year we looked to [Pfeifer and Kowalik] too often,” Matz said. “We became one dimensional.”
Kowalik, a native of Vikingstad, Sweden, led the Huskies in all offensive categories last year with nine goals, four assists and 22 points. Despite donning red and black for just two seasons, the 2004 second team All-America East member is already tied for second place in the Northeastern record books with 20 career goals. Her 48 career points put her just five away from Dyjak’s mark of 53 with two more years of eligibility left.
Pfeifer, the team’s second leading scorer in 2004 and member of the All-AE second team, enters the year with 43 points and a team-high 56 starts. The Newton native has started all three years at NU and will be counted on to provide a good amount of offensive firepower.
Although they have a highly-touted group of incoming freshmen, the real strength of the 2005 Husky squad will be their battle-tested senior class. The five seniors bring a combined 204 career starts along with 76 points.
Entering last season Jessie Haidamaka had only scored one goal in two years at NU. However, 2004 would see her breakout to finish third on the team with 10 points and tied with Pfeifer for second on the team with five goals. All five of her goals were game winners.
Filippa Petruccelli and Jackie Spellman have been constants in the midfield for NU since their arrival on Huntington in 2002. The two vets boast a combined 111 career starts.
The seniors aren’t the only key members returning for Northeastern. Sophomore defender Laura Johnson was named to the AE All-Rookie team after starting 17 games as a freshman in 2004, and was also named to the AE All-Championship team due to her solid play in the conference tournament. Joining Johnson in the backfield is junior Sandra Karlsdottir who started 19 games for the Huskies last year and was a key member of a stellar defensive unit.
Last, but most certainly not least, is junior keeper Mariel Wilner, who ranked fifth in the AE with a 1.10 goals against average and third in save percentage, stopping .815 percent of the shots she faced.
The women’s soccer program at Northeastern will continue to climb up the national rankings with Matz at the helm. The simple fact that he has a solid mix of veterans and aspiring talent to replace last year’s class goes to show that he knows a little something about building and maintaining a winning program. With 15 newcomers set to join the team this season, including two High School All-Americans and a member of the Swedish Under-19 national team, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Northeastern become a regional, if not national power in the not-too distant future.
