By Andy MacDougall, News Correspondent
In terms of a game plan, this wasn’t how it was drawn up.
Many of the women on the Northeastern field hockey team knew their season shouldn’t have been decided anywhere but on the pitch. A Top-10 squad for the majority of the season, the Huskies knew they had the talent to play competitively against anyone, especially if given the chance to play in the NCAA tournament.
But there they were, gathered in the Varsity Club inside Matthews Arena on Tuesday evening, waiting with cautious optimism to see if they made it, anxiously waiting to find out if they would play another game.
Just five days earlier, the Huskies had flown down to Philadelphia to compete in the Colonial Athletic Association Field Hockey Tournament. After staving off James Madison University on Saturday afternoon, Northeastern fell to Drexel University for the second time in their previous four games, 2-1 in overtime. To the victor went the spoils, as the win gave the Dragons an automatic bid to the Division I tournament and left Northeastern searching for an at-large bid.
So it was then a waiting game. A tense, nerve-racking waiting game, especially for the eight seniors on the roster, who weren’t sure they would ever play another game together.
The Huskies would come to find, however, that they would live to play one more game, at the very least.
The NCAA selection committee announced Tuesday evening that Northeastern received one of its eight at-large bids, qualifying the Huskies for their second-straight trip to the NCAA Division I Tournament, where they are set to face off against the No. 3-seeded University of Connecticut Huskies on Saturday afternoon.
After a 1-0 loss to Drexel on Oct. 26, the Huskies returned to Philadelphia in hopes of enacting some revenge.
Northeastern has made a habit of getting off to fast starts this season, and the CAA Championship game was no different. Just over four minutes into the game, senior forward Crystal Poland fed a pass to fellow forward Deirdre Duke. The freshman was able to sneak it past Drexel netminder Jantien Gunter for the quick 1-0 lead.
The Huskies kept the pressure on the Drexel back line, putting five shots on Gunter during the first half. The Dragons, however, capitalized on their lone opportunity of the first half, as their first shot on senior goalie Lizzie Priest found the back of the net. The goal by Amanda Fleischut came off of a penalty corner, and tied the game at one apiece.
In the second half, Northeastern pushed deep into the Drexel end of the field, adding an additional two shots on Gunter while Priest faced none, but the Dragons were able to push the game into overtime.
Just 3:43 into the overtime period, Fleischut sent a pass to teammate Christina Conrad, who rifled a shot through Northeastern’s defense that snuck past Priest for the game-winning goal.
“Ultimately I think it’s [a disappointing result],” Northeastern head coach Cheryl Murtagh said. “I think that we felt we were good enough to compete and win a championship this weekend. The effort of the team was tremendous. We had to deal with some adversity and I think overall the kids hung in there.”
Though they took the loss, the Huskies couldn’t have played much better. The Dragons had only two shots on net all game, and one of the goals that snuck past Priest came as her team inadvertently screened her.
“Drexel was a bit tougher on us,” senior defender Christine Tase said. “They executed on their opportunities and we didn’t really execute as much as we could have.
“We did limit them on shots, but they just had good shots on goal that we weren’t able to save, which is tough for us.”
Before they took on Drexel, the Huskies had to deal with a James Madison team they found to be more aggressive than the one Northeastern defeated 3-2 in overtime earlier this season.
Northeastern started off quickly once again, as junior forward Lindsay Bennett took a pass from sophomore midfielder Caroline Judge and fed it within the right post to put Northeastern up 1-0 just two minutes into the game.
James Madison responded four minutes later to knot the game at one apiece, but an own-goal on the Dukes at 24:03 gave Northeastern the 2-1 lead at halftime.
With 13 minutes remaining, James Madison’s Rachel Wein was able to sneak a ball past Priest to tie the game at 2-2. With just over five minutes remaining in regulation, however, senior forward Nicky Graham took a pass from Poland and stuffed it home to lift the Huskies to victory.
“It was great in that moment, but we had a quick turnaround time,” Graham said, “so we had to buckle down and focus [on Drexel] right away.
The loss to Drexel pushed the Huskies down to No. 12 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Poll, but ultimately, the national recognition that mattered most came Tuesday, when the Huskies learned they would return to the NCAA tournament.
Meanwhile, Poland and Duke both received significant conference accolades this past week. Poland was named the CAA Player of the Year for netting a CAA-best 28 goals and 61 points this season.
In the loss to Drexel, Poland suffered a minor injury. But it appears she and the Huskies were able to avoid any serious injury, as the senior will dress when the Huskies take on UConn this weekend.
Her linemate, Duke, was honored with the CAA Rookie of the Year award after compiling 12 goals and six assists in her freshman campaign. Her 12 goals were second in the conference only to Poland.
Duke becomes the third Husky to take home the award, joining Poland (2009) and former Husky Kaela Barker (2008).
With the regular season and conference postseason over, the Huskies in red will now face the Huskies in blue Saturday at the George Sherman Sports Complex on the campus of the University of Connecticut. Should they win, Northeastern would face the winner of Saturday’s Lafayette/Maryland game on Sunday.
