By Eoghan Kelly, News Correspondent
The Northeastern men’s soccer team was desperate for a spark to ignite them out of their three-game losing streak.
To find it, they turned to two of their most reliable veterans.
To find it, they turned to two of their most reliable veterans.
Senior midfielder Mike Kennedy came on as a substitute in the 54th minute and played an instrumental role in senior defender Ryan Burnham’s goal as the Huskies clawed their way to a 1-0 win over Georgia State University (GSU) Saturday at Parson’s Field.
“Last week we gave up goals very early in the system that really put us under duress,” head coach Brian Ainscough said. “So we said if we don’t give up a goal and can play, maybe get the first goal in the game, things will change. We were all very tight today and it wasn’t a great performance, but it was a relief to win.”
The win was the 200th in the team’s history, but it did not come easily. The Huskies, who now sit at 6-4-1 overall and 2-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), made a pre-game decision to use a formation that emphasized offensive attacking by pairing sophomore forward Ricardo McDonald and senior forward Josh Semerene together for most of the game.
Ainscough said the new formation was a “change for change’s sake,” but Burnham added it helped give the Huskies the offensive production they needed to beat a GSU team (8-3-1, 2-2 CAA) that lost just once in its nine previous matches.
“We were pushing on for more goals,” the Northeastern co-captain said. “We hadn’t scored a lot of goals, so we went with a more offensive formation down the middle and I think it really worked out. We put a lot of pressure on them.”
The change finally paid off in the 79th minute when Kennedy dribbled to the endline and produced a corner kick. As the Huskies lined up, Kennedy played a short pass to sophomore midfielder Dante Marini. Marini dribbled past a couple GSU defenders before the ball squirted to Burnham, who took a deflection past Panther redshirt freshman keeper CJ Cochran for Burnham’s first point of the season.
“Coach always talks about doing the short corners,” Kennedy said. “Dante [Marini] is obviously a smart player, so I just saw him out of the corner of my eye when I went over to take the corner. The ball came out to Ryan [Burnham] and he hit a great finish in the end.”
Despite sitting out the first half, Ainscough said Kennedy’s play gave the Huskies the lift they needed to get the victory.
“The idea was to get him in [as a sub], and he changed the game,” Ainscough said of Kennedy, who has two goals and an assist through eight games this year. “You just saw that the energy in the team changed about 10 minutes into the second half, so I think that was a pretty significant difference … He was a huge factor in getting those three points [in the overall standings] tonight.”
The two sides remained scoreless at halftime, but the Panthers controlled the tempo for much of the opening 45 minutes. They peppered the Northeastern back line with shots and crosses, forcing Blum to come off his line multiple times and make three saves in a span of six minutes.
The two sides remained scoreless at halftime, but the Panthers controlled the tempo for much of the opening 45 minutes. They peppered the Northeastern back line with shots and crosses, forcing Blum to come off his line multiple times and make three saves in a span of six minutes.
In the end, Blum was perfect, making four total saves for his second clean sheet of the season. But he benefited from a solid effort from his defense, including a potential goal-saving sliding tackle by sophomore defender Conner Alexander in the 89th minute.
“I think our defense was a lot more cohesive,” Burnham said. “We were able to communicate stepping and dropping much better and getting cover, so pretty much the basics that we worked on in practice helped out a lot.”
“I think our defense was a lot more cohesive,” Burnham said. “We were able to communicate stepping and dropping much better and getting cover, so pretty much the basics that we worked on in practice helped out a lot.”
Northeastern’s losing streak was extended to three games before they faced GSU after dropping yet another road decision, 2-1, to the University of Delaware Oct. 5. The Huskies were forced to play from behind for nearly the entire game after conceding a goal to the Blue Hens in the seventh minute.
Senior midfielder Evans Frimpong gave Delaware (7-2-1, 2-2 CAA) the lead when he made a great individual effort to beat a Northeastern defender, sliding the ball to the left post past Blum for his sixth goal of the season.
His seventh came only 16 minutes later.
His seventh came only 16 minutes later.
In the 23rd minute, Frimpong tallied the game-winning goal. After taking a pass from junior midfielder Ben Raymond, Frimpong beat Blum again, this time to the top far corner.
But the Huskies answered six minutes later. Marini took a shot from 40 yards out that caught the Blue Hens off guard, and sailed over the outstretched Brandon Paul for Marini’s fourth goal of the season.
Blum finished the game with one save, which tied his season-low. The Huskies outshot the Blue Hens 16-5 and forced Paul to make five second-half saves, including three game-savers after sophomore defender John Dineen was sent off in the 72nd minute.
Ainscough said they were disappointed not to get a result during their three-game road trip.
Ainscough said they were disappointed not to get a result during their three-game road trip.
“You look at the stats of the last three games,” Ainscough said. “It looked like we could’ve been winning all those games …you expect to lose a little bit on the road, but the loss to Delaware really hurt, so we didn’t really know how we’d bounce back.”
The Huskies bounced back with their fourth consecutive home shutout against GSU. They remain undefeated at home in 2011, but will take on Hofstra University and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington on the road Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.
Kennedy said that he thinks the home victory can help propel the Huskies to a better performance on the road this week.
“It was tough coming off the three losses,” Kennedy said. “I think tonight [against GSU] was like a wake-up for everyone. That’s a good team in the league and we understand how good we are now. So I think we’re just going to take momentum from this one and I think we’ll be alright for the rest of the way.”
