By Conor Nevins

This season the men’s soccer team will be marked by change, as the team adjusts to a new head coach. Brian Ainscough takes the reigns from Ed Matz, who stepped down as men’s head coach to concentrate solely on the women’s program.

Ainscough faces the challenge of guiding the Huskies into a new conference this season, as they make the switch from the America East to the Colonial Athletic Association.

An inability to score goals was a problem the Huskies frequently faced last year, and that problem resurfaced at the start of the new campaign.

Northeastern traveled to South Carolina to begin the season, participating in the Coastal Carolina Adidas Invitational Tournament. The Huskies faced host Coastal Carolina in the first game and got a first glimpse at the quality of the competition down south, losing 6-0 in the opener. The Chanticleers took over the game from the start, netting their first goal in the 11th minute. They added another goal 20 minutes later to make it 2-0 at intermission.

From there, matters got even worse. Four goals in 11 minutes put the game completely out of reach and sent NU directly into the loss column. The Huskies could muster only five shots to the Chanticleers’ 22.. Senior goalie Sergio Saccoccio made nine saves.

The second game of the Huskies’ trip was a much improved performance by Ainscough’s team. Playing against the Furman Paladins of Greenville, S.C., NU regrouped and battled the Paladins to a 0-0 draw. Still unable to find the back of the net, the Huskies improved on the defensive end, anchored by Saccoccio, who made five saves. The game was plagued by fouls, with 45 committed, 31 of which went against the Huskies.