As rain and wind pummeled the players at Parsons Field, Hofstra gained its lead early with a goal in the second minute from Courtney Breen.

The Pride upped its lead in the 14th minute with a goal from Sam Scolarici off a corner kick, putting Northeastern in an early hole.

That hole was deepened a minute later when Scolarici struck again with her second goal of the night, after Northeastern turned over the ball after some defensive confusion.

“We got scored on very early on the corner, we knew they were very dangerous on the corner kick,” head coach Tracey Leone said. “That third goal was just a mistake on our part.”

It looked like the Huskies had a chance to climb out of the 3-0 hole when senior defender Kelly Matthews lined up for a penalty kick, but her shot went high and Northeastern stayed at the three-goal deficit for the remainder of the match.

Matthews and her teammate, sophomore forward Hanna Terry, were both injured in the match and did not return to the game. After doctor’s appointments earlier this week, their statuses are pending.

Redshirt sophomore midfielder Hannah O’Donnell said it was difficult for the team to see their teammates go down.

“With someone like Kelly [Matthews], she never gets injured and to see her down, we were all freaking out,” O’Donnell said. “To have two unbelievable players get hurt in the first half, it was definitely a shot to our ego and took a toll psychologically and we just had to regroup.”

Saturday’s loss to Hofstra caused Northeastern to fall to 5-5-1 in conference play; their post-season fate would have to wait until Sunday to be determined, following two other CAA matchups.

“It was an unfortunate loss because it was senior day,” Leone said. “We certainly didn’t want to depend on other teams to determine our fate.”

The cards fell into place for the Huskies when Drexel University lost to the University of Delaware, leaving Northeastern in sixth place, the final spot in the playoffs.

Leone said being the sixth seed isn’t concerning for her, especially considering the last time Northeastern won the CAA tournament, in 2008, they entered in that same position.

“We feel very fortunate to be in the position we’re in but at the same time, our team did earn enough points to get there,” Leone said. “We need to begin games better and with much better focus and if we can do that we’re going to do very well.”

Senior forwardStefanie Raiola expressed similar gratitude towards making the playoffs, and emphasized that anything can happen.

“Everyone starts over in the playoffs,” Raiola said. “We’re looking forward to this week in terms of not only winning the tournament hopefully, but making it the NCAA.”

The CAA tournament kicks off today in Virginia when the Huskies take on third seed George Mason University. If that match results in a Northeastern victory, the team will take on No. 2 Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) the following day, and play in the championship on Nov. 6 if they are able to take down VCU.

“Everyone knows what’s required and is excited for a second chance,” Leone said. “Once you get into the playoffs anything is possible. It’s like we have another day to fight.”