By: Zach Hayes, News Staff
Since Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play began for the men’s soccer team Sept. 25, goals have been difficult to come by. The Huskies are ranked seventh out of 12 in the CAA in average goals per game with 1.33.
Despite a plethora of scoring chances, the Huskies have been unable to execute, posting one goal in two contests this week– a 0-0 draw last Saturday against UNC–Wilmington and a 2-1 loss last night at Towson.
With the loss to Towson, the Huskies drop to 4-6-3 on the season and 2-2-3 in CAA competition.
In both games, Northeastern out-shot its opponents, highlighted by a dominating performance against preseason conference favorite UNC–Wilmington. The Huskies out-shot the Seahawks 28-13, but were unable to notch the winning goal as Wilmington goalkeeper Brandon Miller saved all 28 shots.
“We’ve had some tough games we felt like we should have won this year,” head coach Brian Ainscough said. “The second half and overtime was all one-way traffic. All the effort our players put out without scoring was hard to swallow.”
Saturday’s loss was an unwelcome reminder of last season’s CAA final defeat at the hands of Wilmington, another match in which Northeastern was unable to score. Junior forward Mike Kennedy led the attack in this week’s effort with five shots on goal, but Miller thwarted each scoring attempt.
“It felt almost like a loss,” Kennedy said. “We can take a lot of positives from the game, but we had a lot of chances to put them away in the second half and in overtime. We did a great job against them last year, but again we didn’t score. I feel as though we’re as good as any team in the conference and my team does too. It’s our own fault– we have to score.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Oliver Blum continued his strong play in his first season in a Huskies uniform after transferring from Providence. Blum posted his fourth shutout of the year, saving five Seahawks shots in the process. The Northeastern defense – notably senior captains Santiago Bedoya, Matt Sanford and Brendan Ennis – limited UNC–Wilmington’s scoring chances, only permitting 13 shots in 110 minutes of action.
Northeastern came within inches of closing out the game in the 103rd minute of play when Ennis hit the crossbar on a header following freshman midfielder Laurence Braude’s corner kick. Braude, the reigning CAA Rookie of the Week, also notched nine shots and three shots on goal in the draw.
“The effort was tremendous and the play was tremendous, but we have to win at the end of the day,” Ainscough said. “You hope it equals out over the season. The second half we executed except putting the ball in the goal. At the end of the day, it’s still painful. The quality of play was high-level.”
Braude provided the lone goal for the Huskies in Wednesday’s loss to Towson. His goal in the 22nd minute past Tigers goalkeeper John Steele handed the Huskies an early lead, but two Towson scores in an 18-minute span against Blum handed the Huskies their first CAA loss in three contests.
The first Tigers score came courtesy of forward Liam Maloney’s free kick in the 60th minute, his fourth of the season. Towson’s midfielder and defenseman Stefan Froedert notched his first collegiate goal 18 minutes later to hand the Tigers a lead they did not relinquish, holding the Huskies to three shots in the final 12 minutes.
“We weren’t able to possess the ball,” Sanford said. “We gave it away in bad spots and we didn’t play as a team.”
Blum made three saves in the contest for Northeastern, who outshot its opponent 14-11 and managed an 8-3 advantage in corner kicks. Despite the defeat, Sanford is already looking forward to the team’s next CAA contest Saturday.
“We just need to come out firing and stay focused, play our game for a full 90 minutes,” Sanford said.
The Huskies take the field again Saturday at Parsons Field against George Mason with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.
