By Chris Judd and Jake Fischer, News Staff
After successfully defending their 18-game unbeaten streak at Parsons Field last week, the Northeastern men’s soccer team hit the road for two contests against long-time non-conference rivals. On Saturday, Coach Brian Ainscough led the club to Providence, R.I. to take on the Friars.
The Huskies have had success against Providence College in the two schools’ annual meetings since 2005. Saturday was no different, as Northeastern managed play with a Providence club that entered the match 4-0-1 to a scoreless, double-overtime tie.
“We did really well down there against a good team, so it was a good result,” Ainscough said upon returning to Northeastern.
Sophomore goalkeeper Dylan Faber earned his second straight shutout of the season in the Huskies impressive effort against their Big East opponent. Northeastern had the first four shots of the match, three of which came from senior midfielder Dante Marini. Marini also came out firing in the beginning of the second half, with two shots on goal in the first five minutes. However, the Huskies were unable to convert any of their offensive opportunities. Providence outshot Northeastern 16-12, but it was for naught due to the Huskies’ defense.
“I think we’re successful because we have a great group of guys on the team,” Faber said of the squad’s defensive prowess. “I’ve got 10 great players in front of me and they’re all putting in the work on defense and really only allowing less than three or four shots on target per game. Those limited chances are really a testament to how good our back four is.”
Faber made a save with three minutes left in regulation to send the game to overtime. PC also attempted three corner kicks in overtime, but the Husky defense was able to prevent the scores. Faber was poised in the waning moments of the game and has been throughout the start of this new season.
“We have a great coaching staff that gets us ready and I trained all summer long, playing at a high level club in Washington,” Faber explained. “I just stayed in shape and came in healthy. Getting through the preseason healthy was a bigger part of it and now as the games go on, I’m just getting more and more confident and I’m feeling pretty good. Hopefully we can get some more wins in the near future.”
Unfortunately the sophomore goalkeeper from Alaska couldn’t keep his shutout streak alive when the Huskies traveled to Commonwealth Avenue to face the Boston University Terriers on Tuesday night for the first time since 2007.
It was a very chilly evening, and Northeastern came out slow and sluggish, but Ainscough said the weather had no impact.
“It had zero effect,” Ainscough said. “It was a beautiful night to play. We just didn’t create any chances, so it was just a bad night.”
The Northeastern offense generated 13 shots to BU’s six, but the Terriers were the team that managed to find the back of the net.
BU freshman Felix De Bona scored his second career goal in the 33rd minute of the match off senior midfielder Anthony Ciccone’s free kick. The Terriers would take their 1-0 lead into intermission and ultimately nurse the winning margin throughout the entire second period.
“I wouldn’t say we penetrated their defense. We probably only had three good looks at goal, which isn’t a ton,” BU’s coach Neil Roberts said. “The goal came off a free kick and it was a flick on type thing. To say we broke them down is an overstatement. They play very well and very aggressive defensively.”
And despite being victorious, Roberts recognized Northeastern’s dominance — although scoreless — in the final period, following the game.
“They took the game during the second half,” he added. “They dictated the pace, they pressured hard and we couldn’t break it. We had to work that much harder defensively to hang on.”
BU’s redshirt freshman goalkeeper Matt Gilbert came up with five crucial saves to secure the victory. His biggest came following a shot from Marini from within the box in the 88th minute.
“It was more frustrating than anything,” Faber said, a day removed from the team’s loss at Nickerson Field. “We just didn’t come out to play in that first half and we got punished for it. Hopefully we can learn from that and bring that knowledge into our next game, come out ready to play and put a full 90 minutes together.”
The Huskies will have an opportunity to move on and end their two-game winless streak when they take the field against Columbia University on Saturday back home in Brookline.
