By Trevor Wenner, News Correspondent
The Huskies have guaranteed themselves home field advantage in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament with a 3-2 victory against the Hofstra University Pride on yesterday afternoon in Hempstead, N.Y.
“It is a nice accomplishment to be able to play at home field but we know we are playing against a great team,” head coach Tracey Leone said. “We need to mentally and physically get some rest and then get back at it.”
The Huskies got on the board early with a goal by redshirt-sophomore Devin Griffin, unassisted, at 5:02.
The Pride answered a minute later when freshman forward Leah Galton scored, assisted by freshman midfielder Jill Mulholland, at 6:17.
“We fought through the first half but the second half we played much better,” head coach Tracey Leone said. “[I] give a lot of credit to our team, we were resilient in a time when we were exhausted.”
The game went into halftime still tied at one but senior forward Greta Samuelsdottir broke the tie at 67:38 when she scored assisted by sophomore forward Lahaina Zoller.
The Pride answered back again to tie the game but junior forward Hanna Terry ultimately ended the game with a goal at 77:01.
“Hanna Terry is a special player,” Leone said. “In every game she has been a huge impact for us; she has created chances [and] she has scored some big goals.”
The Huskies had already guaranteed themselves a playoff berth with Samuelsdottir’s penalty shot 34 seconds into overtime against the Old Dominion University Monarchs in Norfolk, Va., for a 2-1 win Sunday to springboard the Huskies into the postseason.
Sophomore goalkeeper Paige Burnett recorded four saves in the victory while Samuelsdottir recorded five shots to lead the Huskies to their sixth conference win.
“She is a great pressure player [and] a great finisher,” Leone said.
After a scoreless first half, Samuelsdottir put the Huskies on the board at 51:52 assisted by redshirt-sophomore Hannah O’Donnell and freshman defender Oksana Nicholls. Nicholls’ assist was her first career point as a member of the Huskies.
The tally came off a corner kick taken by Nicholls, which was then headed by O’Donnell and then Samuelsdottir was able to get a head on it and put it into the net.
“It is nice to secure a playoff spot this year with our doing rather than through other teams,” Samuelsdottir said.
The Monarchs responded at 73:38 with sophomore forward Taylor Smith’s second goal of the season, assisted by freshman forward Jordan Jones, to tie the game.
The Huskies kept their composure and eventually won the game in overtime.
“The team came out with a lot of energy and created a lot of great chances,” Leone said. “It was a well deserved victory [and] we are very excited we clinched a playoff spot.”
After scoring two goals in the contest, Samuelsdottir sits third in Northeastern history with 25 goals, 61 points and also recorded her third multi-goal game of the season.
“She is playing with such an urgency and desire to extend her senior season,” Leone said.
The Huskies outshot the Monarchs 14-11 and had a 76-5 edge in shots on goal.
But, junior midfielder Hanna Terry’s first goal as a Husky on Friday was not enough to defeat the College of William & Mary.
The Tribe pulled out to a one-goal lead just before the first half ended. Their first goal came from freshman midfielder Nicole Baxter, assisted by junior forward Audrey Barry, at 44:07.
They scored again in the 67th minute when junior midfielder Dani Rutter found the back of the net, assisted by sophomore midfielder Aly Shaughnessy.
Terry answered the bell by fighting through traffic to score at 72:42 to cut the lead in half.
Junior midfielder Hillary Savoy had a quality opportunity to even the score in the 81st minute but freshman goalkeeper Caroline Casey was there to make the save.
The Tribe won the shot battle 10-8 and Burnett recorded three saves in the defeat. Samuelsdottir and Terry led the Huskies offensive attack, each recording three shots in the match.
Leone said she was happy with the team’s effort in the game but noticed a little fatigue from the grueling regular season schedule.
“We played really well and it was good to see how we compared right now with the top team in our conference,” Leone said.
