By Connor McGann, News Correspondent
The Northeastern women’s soccer team reeled off two straight wins against the College of Charleston and the University of North Carolina Wilmington to kick off conference play. But those teams have a combined 1-5 record, and their true test came Saturday against the 8-3 Pride of Hofstra University. It was against Hofstra – a team who entered undefeated in conference play – that the Huskies proved their talent with a 2-0 shutout victory. After an 0-6-3 start to the season, how did the Huskies do it?
“Sometimes you gotta have a breakdown to have a breakthrough,” coach Tracy Leone said following the win. “We definitely had a breakdown and now we’re starting to have a breakthrough.”
Heading into Saturday night’s game against Hofstra, the Huskies were already well-known foes of the Pride after facing each other two games in a row last season. In the regular season finale, Northeastern won, 3-2, while in the CAA quarterfinals the Pride upended Northeastern 2-2 (3-1) on penalty kicks following the second overtime.
Hofstra has what junior goalkeeper Paige Burnett referred to as “probably the strongest front line that we’ll see in conference,” and were predicted to finish first in the CAA by the league’s coaches in a preseason poll. Northeastern was picked to finish sixth in a field of nine teams.
However, when the two teams met at Parsons Field, the Huskies won 2-0 and retained their undefeated status in the CAA, something unforeseeable following what Leone called their lowest point of the season – a loss to UMass Amherst.
“We had a really rough preseason,” sophomore forward Morgan Hilby said. “It just built up our confidence and we can sustain it throughout the season.”
Burnett, who participated in a talk with the defensive unit about turning the season around heading into conference play, has been a stalwart in net for the Huskies over the last three games. Her six-save shutout over the Pride earned the junior CAA Co-Player of the Week honors. While Burnett and the defense stood strong, the offense erupted for its third multi-goal effort in a row.
The Huskies’ offense has been able to capitalize on its stellar defense for seven goals in the past three games, a plus-six goal differential over that period. Hilby had two assists against Hofstra and sophomore forward Shayna Blackwood scored her second goal of the season. Along with recent CAA Rookie of the Week Haley Sinclair and senior Hanna Terry, they have terrorized conference back lines thus far.
“Our forwards are really clicking well together,” Hilby said. “We’re all combining and getting together. In the beginning it was kind of off, but now we’re just really connecting and flowing great together.”
Throughout the Huskies’ winning streak the defense has been nearly unstoppable, allowing only a single goal in three wins. A grueling nine-game stretch to open the season and a ‘leave it all on the field’ mentality has bolstered the Huskies’ confidence since conference play began.
“You cannot shut out a team like this, with their forwards who are phenomenal, without playing tremendously,” Leone said.
If the Huskies’ defense once again has a strong night against winless Drexel University Friday in Philadelphia — the Dragons have a 0.050 shot percentage against Northeastern’s 0.108 conversion rate — they can retain their lead in the conference and move to 4-0.
Following Drexel the Huskies take on middle-of-the-pack teams in the University of Delaware and Towson University before ending their season against third place James Madison University and the College of William and Mary, the only other undefeated CAA team remaining. With two shutout victories and a win over Hofstra, Northeastern appears to have put a difficult non-conference schedule behind them.
“We certainly played a hard schedule but to come out with no wins was perplexing, I think, to a lot of people. But I think what people did is they were more accountable for their own performance,” Leone said. “[We] did a lot of soul-searching and just recommitted to playing hard for each other and to a real goal which is trying to win a conference championship”
