The College of William and Mary took the upper hand early in the game when midfielder Mallory Schaffer scored her 13th goal of season of a corner kick in the 11th minute.

Schaffer struck again in the 24th and 32nd minutes, first putting in her 14th goal of the season and then feeding the ball to teammate Audrey Barry for the Tribe’s third goal.

Down by three, Northeastern played aggressively in the second half with shots from senior forward Veronica Napoli, sophomore forward Hanna Terry, freshman defender Awnalisa Walker and freshman forward Lahaina Zoller.

But it was junior forward Greta Samuelsdottir who was finally able to score, assisted by junior defender Sandra Magnusdottir early in the second half.

Samuelsdottir’s goal was her seventh of the season. She trails Napoli in scoring by just two goals,

Despite coming out strong in the second half, Samuelsdottir’s lone goal was not enough, and William and Mary remained undefeated while the Huskies took their third loss in conference play.

“We picked it up in the second half,” senior defender and co-captain Kelly Matthews said. “They’re a really strong team and it’s tough to come back from a 3-0 deficit.”

Even with the Sunday loss, there was a bright spot in the Huskies’ weekend, when they shut out Old Dominion 4-0 Friday with goals scored by Napoli, Zoller and senior midfielder Kirby Anderson.

“It was great to have such a clean win,” Matthews said of the Oct. 14 victory. “It was probably one of the best games we’ve had so far this season. Overall I think we pretty much dominated the whole game.”

The Huskies outshot Old Dominion 21 to 12 in the match, which was delayed 59 minutes after flashes of  lightning.

“We played our game and our soccer,” Samuelsdottir said. “We let them worry about us instead of us worrying about them.”

Two weeks remain in regular season play, and Northeastern sits in second place behind 8-0 William and Mary.

With little time left, Matthews said this weekend will be crucial for her team.

“We’re really looking to get two wins this weekend,” Matthews said. “Everything’s up in the air in terms of the postseason and we’re trying to secure our spot there, but we need to try to get a win on Friday and Sunday on the road this weekend which is tough, but we’re pretty confident.”

Northeastern goes on the road this weekend to face Georgia State Friday (6-10-1) and University of North Carolina Wilmington (2-13) Sunday.