By Trevor Wenners, News Correspondent
After coming out on either end of a shutout this past weekend, against Drexel University and the University of Delaware, the women’s soccer team finds itself in fifth place in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) as the conference season nears its end.
On Oct. 4, the Huskies fell 1-0 to the Drexel Dragons, but negated the loss Sunday afternoon in Delaware with a 2-0 shutout of the Blue Hens.
The Huskies (5-8, 3-2 CAA) played a solid first half against Drexel but did not show the same quality of play in the second, head coach Tracey Leone said, as they gave up the game-winning goal and eventually fell 1-0.
“We were not getting on as many loose balls as we did in the first half,” Leone said. “I thought in the first half we were unbelievable. We played really well [and] caused them a lot of problems.”
An unassisted goal by senior forward Alex Vazquez of the Dragons at 73:35 proved to be the difference. Dragons’ sophomore goalkeeper Eve Badana stopped all three shots she faced to record her CAA-leading eighth shutout of the season.
The Huskies were outshot in the contest 9-6, including 7-3 in the second half. Redshirt-sophomore forward Devin Griffin led the Huskies with two shots.
Northeastern answered the loss on Sunday in Delaware when freshman defender Shayna Blackwood notched her first collegiate goal as the result of a corner kick at 25:21. Sophomore goalie grabbed her fourth shutout of the season in the Huskies’ 2-0 win.
“It is really good. I was expecting to come in as a forward, so it was good to get into an attacking role,” Blackwood said.
Senior defender Sandra Magnusdottir netted her second goal of the season from 40 yards out, unassisted at 37:27 for an insurance goal prior to halftime.
“Getting two goals in the first half is always a great sign,” Leone said.
The Huskies were able to preserve the lead in the second half by continuing to be aggressive in their approach. They controlled the tempo and were the more dominant team in consistently winning loose balls.
“[We] created a lot of good chances and very dangerous corners,” Leone said. “We just had an unbelievable attitude to score.”
The Huskies outshot the Blue Hens 14-7 and recorded seven corner kicks in the match.
“Our defense did a phenomenal job, everybody [was] talking and working together,” Burnett said. “For the most part we shut them down; they did not get many opportunities.”
Senior forward Greta Samuelsdottir led the team with three shots in the victory. Leone credited the highlight of the night to the defensive play against a potent University of Delaware front line which included senior forward Ali Miller, who leads the Blue Hens with six goals this season.
“[The] back line played very well against a very good team that likes to slip balls in behind the back line,” Leone said.
Leone has been impressed with the work the team has done on the road but knows the importance of winning its upcoming conference games at home.
“They’re pivotal games, we are nearing the end of the conference season and everything is so close,” Leone said. “We are hitting our stride right now; we are playing really well, we are really invested [and] we have great energy.”
The Huskies only have five conference games remaining, and two of them will be played this weekend at Parsons Field against Towson University (Friday, 6 p.m.) and George Mason University (Sunday, 12 p.m.)
“We need to continue working and playing the way we played on Sunday and bring that to Friday,” Burnett said.
