By: Jill Saftel, News Staff
The women’s soccer team is out of the running for the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title, but it certainly isn’t done fighting.
“We have to end well,” sophomore forward Greta Samuelsdottir said. “This is a great opportunity to finish off as well as we can and keep going from last weekend.”
The Huskies faced UNC-Wilmington and Georgia State University (GSU) in two home games last weekend.
Friday night’s game versus UNC-Wilmington proved to be the breakthrough game the team was looking for, said head coach Tracey Leone.
Northeastern was first on the board when junior forward Veronica Napoli took a feed from Samuelsdottir that gave the Huskies a 1-0 advantage late in the first half.
Senior co-captain and midfielder Kristen Blake was next to score in the 69th minute, assisted by junior midfielder Kirby Anderson. The goal was Blake’s third of the year.
The Northeastern goals kept coming when the Huskies struck again in the 73rd minute. UNC-Wilmington goalkeeper Caitlin Hunter saved a header by senior co-captain defender Leslie Condie, but Samuelsdottir was able to score on the rebound.
“Friday was the best game that I’ve ever been a part of and I’ve played in championship CAA games,” Condie said. “It was so much fun and I was just so proud of everyone on the field.”
In the game’s final minutes, sophomore defender Marcela Bedoya passed the ball across the field to sophomore forward Bianca Vecchiarello, who fired a shot for her first career goal.
Senior goalkeeper Sarah Fylak made five saves in the game, which was her first career shutout.
“It was a long time coming, at any point it was going to happen,” Leone said. “They played spectacular, scored some great goals, had a shutout, and defended really well against a difficult style to play against.”
After a four-game losing streak, the win put the team back on track, Condie said.
“Obviously it was really disappointing losing the last four games,” Condie said. “We knew that there wasn’t a big chance we could make playoffs, but with any chance we did have, we wanted to make sure that we had done everything possible. To lose any more games would not be a good representation of what we are, and we just wanted to prove ourselves again.”
The team was given another chance to prove itself in its Senior Day game against Georgia State.
In the 17th minute, junior defender Kelly Matthews scored her first goal of the year with an assist from junior midfielder Erin McGaffigan.
GSU countered the Northeastern goal and tied the game with a goal from Sarah Bennett in the 24th minute.
“I was so confident that it didn’t worry me at all,” said Condie of the GSU equalizer. “We were playing really, really well. With the attitude the team had stemming from Friday and the confidence they gained from just that one game, I felt like we were going to get another goal.
The match remained a draw at halftime, and neither team was able to score throughout the rainy second half despite a 26-8 advantage in shots for the Huskies.
Four minutes into overtime, Samuelsdottir set up Napoli for the golden goal that ended the game and prompted the team to charge the field.
Samuelsdottir and Napoli led the team with eight goals apiece on the season and Fylak made her fifth consecutive start in the game, recording three saves.
Sunday’s game proved to be meaningful for both Leone and her players.
“It became kind of a senior weekend, everyone was feeling that it was special and important, wanting to finish strong and knowing that we had an opportunity there, regardless of moving on,” Leone said. “We needed to keep fighting, because that’s really what Northeastern deserves.”
The Huskies have one game left, a road match Saturday against first-place Hofstra, who is undefeated in the regular season.
“They’re going to win first place regardless, if you look at their record right now they haven’t lost a game all season, and I want to be the one that does that,” Condie said of the team’s next opponent. “They’re not getting past us.”
