By Chris Judd, News Correspondent
The men’s soccer team shut out the University of Delaware 2-0 yesterday afternoon, pushing its home win-streak to 12 games.
The Huskies are now on a three-game winning streak and seven-game unbeaten streak.
“The game was like the rain,” said head coach Brian Ainscough, “It was an ugly game, and we had to grind it out, but the end result is what matters.”
It took 72 minutes for Northeastern (8-1-2) to score the game’s first goal. Sophomore defender Simon Cox had good position in the 18-yard box and knocked the ball directly into the middle of the net off a corner kick by sophomore forward Donovan Fayd’Herbe de Maudave, who picked up the assist. The goal was Cox’s third of the season.
“To be honest, I just ran in, and the ball hit me and went in,” Cox said. “But it’s still a goal and I’ll take it.”
Senior forward Don Anding scored Northeastern’s second goal at 89:24 off of a deep punt by senior goalkeeper Oliver Blum. Anding ripped the ball inside the left goal post from the top of the box to extend Northeastern’s lead and pick up his team-leading eighth goal of the season. Going into the game, Anding was tied for third in the (CAA) in both points and goals with seven goals and 16 points.
Both teams had some missed opportunities throughout the game. With 15 minutes left in the first half, Delaware nearly scored a goal that was denied by the post. Northeastern had several attempts to pass the ball to Anding up the middle of the field but just couldn’t connect. And Anding had a promising scoring opportunity with 9:13 remaining in the game, but good defense by Delaware forced him to put the shot just wide of the net.
Northeastern’s defense only allowed the Blue Hens one shot on goal and one corner kick, though Delaware was able to get a foot on multiple off-target shots. Blum also made two leaping catches on balls that were dangerously close to the goal, preventing Delaware from getting scoring opportunities.
“We also had a mentality that we weren’t going to let any goals in from the start,” Cox said.
Northeastern was able to win in the first 90 minutes, which is a relief since five of their 11 games in 2012 have gone into double overtime.
“We’d like to not go into overtimes,” Ainscough said. “Our defense played really well. Delaware didn’t have many opportunity or shots, which is why we were able to avoid overtime today.”
The Huskies play at Georgia State on Oct. 13. Georgia State is currently 1-3 in the conference and 3-7 overall.
