By: Katie Zigelman, News Correspondent
The field hockey team guaranteed itself a spot in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament with a 4-3 overtime win against Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Friday, despite a 4-1 loss to James Madison University (JMU) Sunday. This is the first time Northeastern has been represented in the CAA tournament since 2007.
“It feels great to have made it to the tournament,” associate head coach Kate Dillon said. “We have had a couple of tough breaks with injuries over the years and the team is a young group, but they have really found their niche over the past couple of games. This is not a surprise, it has been one of our goals from the beginning of the season to make it to the tournament and to win.”
Sophomore forward Nicky Graham brought Friday’s game against the VCU Rams to an abrupt end in overtime by redirecting junior forward Carolyn Malloy’s shot into the goal.
This was Graham’s second goal of the night following a shot in the 67th minute off of an assist from sophomore forward Crystal Poland. Malloy began the scoring at the 5:33 minute mark, also off an assist by Poland. Senior back Anne-Rieke Stuhlmann scored the fourth Northeastern goal assisted by junior midfielder Kaela Barker.
“The game against VCU was a really emotional game,” Dillon said. “Each player fought a solid individual battle and no matter what, whether we were in the lead or not, we never doubted that we could pull off the win.”
Freshman forward Lindsay Bennett scored her second goal of the season in the contest against the Dukes Sunday in the Huskies’ final regular season game. Her first goal was against Maine Sept. 5 and earned her the title of CAA Rookie of the Week.
“Lindsay has a unique quality,” Dillon said. “She has dynamic acceleration that allows her to really make a difference on the field.”
Unfortunately, Bennett’s accomplishment couldn’t match that of JMU’s Dolores de Rooij, who managed a total of three goals and an assist making the final score 4-1 and ending Northeastern’s four-game winning streak.
“They came out and played hard,” junior midfielder Barker said. “This game was a good learning experience, but I don’t think that it will hurt us going into this weekend.”
The two games in Virginia officially concluded the regular season, and the Huskies finished with an overall record of 10-10. The Huskies finished third in CAA matches with a 5-3 record.
The CAA Tournament begins Saturday at Drexel University at 2:30 p.m. The Huskies will be playing the Lady Monarchs who are seeded second with a 6-1 CAA record. This will be the second time this year that Northeastern and Old Dominion University will face off. The Lady Monarchs walked away from Sweeney Field last time with a 2-0 win.
If Northeastern wins the Championship, they will compete in the NCAA tournament. Northeastern has not been to the tournament since 2004 when they won the American East Crown.
“I definitely think that we can do it,” Barker said.
