By: Jill Saftel, News Staff
The women’s soccer team scrambled to avoid sudden death overtime with less than two minutes to play Friday night against the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Rams when senior defender Kelly Matthews sunk a shot in the back of the net on a free kick and clinched the 2-1 Husky victory over VCU.
The game winning, 89th minute goal marked Matthews’ first of the season and gave Northeastern a 1-0 record for Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
“As a team we’ve really rallied together to come off this weekend with two wins to start off conference play is really exciting,” freshman goaltender Paige Burnett said.
Head coach Tracey Leone shared Burnett’s sentiment, citing a rocky week as an obstacle for the team.
“It was an incredible start,” Leone said. “We really had to rally as a team with a lot of injuries and illnesses.”
Among those injured were freshman defender Bianca Calderone, whose injury during practice last Monday will leave her out for the season, Leone said. Senior forward and leading scorer Veronica Napoli experienced a fever, freshman forward Lahaina Zoller had a stomach bug and junior forward Greta Samuelsdottir had a sprained ankle.
“The team was really down, which is good in a way because it means they care about each other, but we [the coaching staff] needed to get them back up for the weekend,” Leone said. “We tried to have really enjoyable practices and make them see how lucky they are to be playing hard for those who are injured and can’t play.”
Despite her injury, Samuelsdottir also put points on the board against VCU, scoring in the first half with an assist from senior midfielder Kirby Anderson.
The goal was Samuelsdottir’s third of the season, but that number increased two days later when the Huskies took on James Madison University (JMU). Samuelsdottir scored two of Northeastern’s four goals in this game, which the Huskies won.
Anderson and Napoli joined Samuelsdottir, each notching a goal. The goals were Anderson’s second of the season and Napoli’s sixth.
It looked as though Burnett might see her third collegiate shutout when the Huskies went through most of the first half 3-0. Their goals weren’t answered until the 30th minute when JMU midfielder Kelly Germain knocked one of Burnett’s hands and into the net.
JMU kept the pressure on Burnett, who made two diving saves to make sure the Dukes weren’t allowed more than the two goals they did tally in the match.
Burnett made eight saves against VCU and six against JMU, recording her fifth and sixth collegiate wins. She now has a .791 save percentage and 53 saves on the season.
“I feel really comfortable back there because we have a really solid defense,” Burnett said. “I trust the people playing in front of me and we really know how each other plays now.”
After the victorious weekend, Northeastern sits second in CAA rankings behind only the College of William & Mary, with a 2-0 record in conference play and 6-4 overall.
The Huskies return to action Thursday night at home against Delaware in which they look to increase their four game winning streak, followed by a string of three away games.
With all the success the Huskies have been experiencing at home, Leone said that getting healthy is first on the agenda.
“It was nice to be at home after a tough week and the players have seen how strong they are and how strong they can be when we play away,” Leone said. “They know if they want to accomplish big things they need to play hard and well on the road.“
