By Eoghan Kelly, News Staff
The men’s soccer team’s undefeated streak ended at three games as it dropped a 4-1 decision to the University of Michigan on Sunday.
After giving up just one goal in its first three games, Northeastern (3-1) allowed two to Michigan before the game was half an hour old, surrendering a first-half tally for the first time in 2012 en route to its worst loss since a 4-1 blowout at George Mason University on Oct. 22, 2011.
“It was bad,” head coach Brian Ainscough said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “We started off the game very poorly … We were very flat the first 30 minutes.”
The Huskies were forced to play a man down for nearly three-quarters of the game after senior goalkeeper Oliver Blum was sent off in the 27th minute for kicking Michigan freshman forward James Murphy in the chest on a jump ball inside the 18-yard box.
The Wolverines (2-2), already up 1-0 off a 26th minute header from senior defenseman Kofi Opare, doubled their lead on the ensuing penalty kick when junior midfielder Fabio Pereira beat Blum’s replacement, freshman keeper Dylan Faber, low to the left side.
“We gave up a goal and then we were forced [to 10 men] a minute and half later when Olly got sent off,” Ainscough said. “The PK made it 2-0, in which case we knew it was going to be a big uphill battle from there. It was a very difficult contest after that.”
Michigan controlled the remainder of the game, outshooting the Huskies 10-4 after Blum’s ejection and 20-7 overall. Northeastern registered just one shot on goal in the final 45 minutes of the match.
Senior forward Don Anding had the Huskies’ lone highlight of the night when he cut his team’s deficit in half in the 43rd minute. After a Michigan defender misplayed a bouncing pass, Anding carried the ball to the top of the penalty box and whistled a left-footed shot over the head of Michigan redshirt-sophomore goalie Adam Grinwis for his second goal of the season and third point in as many games.
Ainscough said he wasn’t surprised to see Anding continue his hot streak.
“Why would I be surprised?” he said. “He’s scoring a lot of goals – that’s why we have him up there.”
But Michigan answered less than a minute after Anding’s tally. Senior midfielder Latif Alashe looped a ball over Faber from inside the six-yard box to make it a two-goal game again with less than two minutes left in the first half.
According to Ainscough, the answering goal killed any momentum the Huskies might have had.
“When you score a goal, it’s pivotal that you don’t give one back right away, and for us one to give one back right away was really just … bad all around,” Ainscough said. “To give yourself a little bit of hope going into the dressing room at halftime and then give up a goal 30 seconds later, that just shows how off our team was.”
Wolverine’s Opare added his second goal of the contest in the 71st minute when he tucked a pass from Pereira past Faber to put the game out of reach.
Faber and Blum finished with four saves apiece, while Grinwis was forced to make only three in 90 minutes of play.
Ainscough said he was impressed with Faber’s ability to replace Blum, despite the freshmen giving up three goals.
“[Faber] was solid,” Ainscough said. “He wasn’t really at fault for anything that he did. He did very well.”
Blum will miss Northeastern’s next game as he serves an NCAA mandated one-game suspension for his red card, Ainscough said, and Faber will see playing time during that stretch.
Sunday’s loss extended Northeastern’s recent road woes. The Huskies are 4-8-2 away from Parsons Field since the 2011 season but have not lost at home since a 2-1 overtime defeat to the College of William & Mary on Nov. 6, 2010.
The Huskies will play four of their next five games on the road as they don’t return home until hosting the College of the Holy Cross on Sept. 26. Their next game is at Fairfield University on Saturday before they open their Colonial Athletic Association schedule at William & Mary on Sept. 22.
Ainscough said that the key to his team reversing its road fate Saturday will be recovering from the Michigan loss and remaining focused during the long week.
“Just hoping we don’t have anything happen the way we came out [against Michigan],” Ainscough said. “The other day we were pretty bad. We gotta get up. It’s a long week … We said we’re going to know what we look like after all these road games. It’s a difficult test – Michigan proved that point.”
