The end of summer and the start of the trudge through fall semester might have some students feeling down, but Northeastern has three great fall sports teams that all each have a shot at making deep runs in the conference and NCAA tournaments. That could brighten any Husky’s day.
Last year, Northeastern had two fall sports compete in the NCAA tournament: field hockey and men’s soccer.
Field Hockey saw a lot of success last year, when they competed in the NCAA tournament. The Huskies lost in overtime in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) finals. They also narrowly lost in a double overtime match to the No. 3 seed University of Connecticut, but they have been in the conference championship game for the past two seasons. They are 2-1 so far this year. Although there will be some new faces after losing graduates Crystal Poland, forward, and Lizzie Priest, goaltender, the Huskies have 12 returning members on the team.
So far, their defense has remained strong. After three games, freshman netminder Becky Gardner has a 1.93 GAA, which is just below the 1.63 GAA the Huskies had last year.
Men’s soccer won its first NCAA game against Boston College after winning the CAA tournament. While they did lose two of their leaders, forward Don Anding and goalie Oliver Blum, most of the team remains intact. The defense, which allowed under one goal per game last year, has remained fairly consistent and is led by junior Simon Cox, who excels at clearing balls and breaking up opponents’ opportunities.
In a preseason poll, the Huskies were voted the most likely to win the CAA this season. Most of their starters remain on the team, and they have the ability to play in the NCAA tournament again this season. A major change for the offense is that sophomore Terrence Carter has been moved to striker instead of midfield where he played last year. He’s going to be replacing Anding, who led the Huskies in goals last season. So far, Carter has scored two goals in two weeks and has won CAA player of the week, but was injured this week.
Even though both the field hockey and men’s soccer team lost some of their star players, the core of the teams have remained intact. They will still be very competitive, and both teams have plenty of players who can step up to help make up for any lost production.
Women’s volleyball made a deep run in the conference last year as they were the third seed in the CAA tournament. They have had a winning record in 12 of the last 13 seasons, and have also won 20 games in each of the past two seasons. Returning senior Kelly Bacon was last year’s CAA offensive player of the year and currently leads the Huskies with 103.5 points, which is over 40 more than the person behind her. Bacon and her crew are only 3-4 so far this season, but the Huskies have a 20-game home winning streak across three seasons.
The majority of Northeastern students pay more attention to the basketball and hockey seasons. However, the fall sports teams are very talented and there is a lot of potential for deep playoff runs. Although it was fun nearly having heart attacks during nail-biter basketball games last year, it might be healthier to watch the fall sports while you still can.
– Chris Judd can be reached at [email protected]
