By Andy MacDougall, News Correspondent
Sophomore midfielder Caroline Judge netted her third goal in as many games and senior forward Nicky Graham earned the game-winning, overtime goal against the then-No. 25 University of Maine as the Huskies split the weekend.
The 4-3 overtime win followed a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to then-No. 24 Boston College on Friday.
“It was great,” Northeastern head coach Cheryl Murtagh said of the victory. “We didn’t put our heads down … We didn’t make silly defensive plays that took us out of the middle of the field. I know the kids felt very good about what we did in overtime and how we dominated.”
Before Northeastern pulled out the victory against Maine, the Huskies began their weekend in Newton, taking on their eighth Top-25 team of the season in Boston College.
Northeastern was aggressive early in the first half as they looked to take the early lead against the Eagles. Freshman forward Deirdre Duke had a shot ring off the post 2:23 into the game, and senior forward Crystal Poland had a penalty corner shot saved by Eagle goalkeeper Leah Settipane at the 8:33. Those two shots, however, would be Northeastern’s only two balls on net for nearly another 20 minutes.
For the rest of the game, both defenses wreaked havoc on the opposing team. By the end of the first, Northeastern had only mustered four shots, while the Eagles tallied three of their own. Each squad earned two penalty corners, but neither had anything to show for it as the first 35 minutes went scoreless.
The second half was much of the same for both clubs, but BC found themselves with better chances in the offensive end. In the 41st-minute, junior forward Virgynia Muma passed the ball in front of the net to her open linemate, freshman AshLeigh Sebia, who was able to tuck the ball behind Northeastern senior goalkeeper Lizzie Priest for the 1-0 lead.
Northeastern would spend the remaining 30 minutes chasing the equalizer, but the Huskies couldn’t capitalize on their five penalty corners in the second half. Still down one with three minutes remaining, Murtagh decided to pull Priest for the extra attacker, but the siren to end the game came before Northeastern could find the back of the net.
“[Boston College] was a tough game,” Judge said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game; they’re a big rival. We had opportunities. We had chances. We came out strong in the first half. It’s a tough loss, but I think it was a good team effort.”
The Eagles became the first team to shut out the Huskies since Penn State University eliminated Northeastern from the NCAA tournament last season with a 1-0 win on Nov. 12.
“We definitely didn’t execute our attack [very well],” Murtagh said. “I think that defensively we didn’t give them a whole lot, but we gave them a goal that I thought we could have prevented. We have to be smarter and better with that kind of lapse defensively and execute our own attack situations. All around, we need to be better.”
Two days later, the Huskies headed to the campus of the University of New Hampshire to face the Maine Black Bears and had a much different outcome than their previous.
Much like the Boston College game, the Huskies came out looking to take control of the game early. After taking four shots in the game’s first 10 minutes, Duke got to the stick of freshman midfielder Zoe Kale in the center of the circle, who was able to find the nylon for her first-career collegiate goal. Just under 11 minutes into the match, the Huskies were up 1-0.
Maine would tie the game at one with a goal by sophomore forward Holly Stewart a little over three minutes later, but the Huskies would grab the lead once again. With 5:27 left in the first, Poland took the feed off a penalty corner and rifled a shot past Maine goalkeeper Alicia Frisch for her 20th goal of the season.
Judge would add her fifth goal of the season with less than two minutes remaining in the half to put the Huskies up 3-1 at the break.
But the second half was all about Maine. Stewart added her second goal of the game at 48:23 to close the gap to 3-2, and with 13 minutes remaining in the game, Maine’s freshman forward Elke Jacobse earned a breakaway in the offensive end. Jacobse found teammate sophomore forward Hannah Keating in the circle, and Keating’s shot tied the game at three.
Northeastern took complete control of possession in overtime as the Huskies didn’t allow the Black Bears to maintain a single possession during the nearly eight minutes of extra play. At 77:50, Graham took a feed from Duke off a breakaway and sent the Huskies home with the win.
“It was a quick turnover,” Graham said. “We were able to get the ball, and [Duke] was able to maintain possession. She drove hard, and people were filling in, filling in positions like how we practice.”
The overtime victory kept the Huskies at No. 10 in this week’s National Field Hockey Coaches Poll, their sixth-consecutive week in the Top 10.
Northeastern returns to the pitch this Friday against Hofstra University at 7 p.m. at UNH before playing No. 13 Boston University at Harvard University’s Jordan Field Sunday at 2 p.m.
