By Chris Judd, News Staff
Two conference losses this past week left Northeastern men’s soccer as the fifth-seed heading into this weekend’s Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament. The Huskies dropped Saturday’s match to the College of Charleston, 1-0, before rounding out the regular season slate with a 4-2 loss to the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW).
Before Wednesday’s game against the Seahawks, the Huskies took a moment to honor their five graduating seniors: Dante Marini, Laurence Braude, Jonathan Eckford, Nikko Lara and Conner Alexander.
“It was a great experience,” Alexander said. “It was a great environment by the team and fans. It was special to be recognized after all the years of hard work we put in to the team.”
“We had a lot of the play, but like the last couple of games, we haven’t been able to find a way to put any balls behind the net,” coach Brian Ainscough said in a postgame interview via goNU.com. “Last game here against Hartford we had no shots on goal, so our offense is spluttering and as long as the game goes on for 90 minutes, you’re always going to be subject to a chance. They had one shot on goal, one goal and four shots all night long … It doesn’t matter what you do from 18 to 18, it’s what you do in the last 18.”
The Huskies (6-8-3, 3-3-1 CAA) had some early opportunities with four shots on goal in the first half, but Charleston goalie Kees Heemskerk kept the Huskies scoreless through the first 45 minutes.
Senior midfielder Dante Marini centered the ball to freshman Robbie Schallmo at the top of the 18-yard box. Schallmo beat his defender and shot the ball to the upper left corner of the net, but Heemskerk dove and made the save.
The Huskies held a 7-2 lead in shots and did not allow a single shot on goal in the first half of the game.
The College of Charleston got its first real scoring chance in the 63rd minute, but junior Simon Cox intercepted the play and cleared the ball.
Marini had a chance to score the first goal of the game four minutes later when he recovered a rebound off a free kick. His shot, however, sailed over the net.
Charleston’s Xavier Rajpaul scored the game’s only goal in the 75th minute after receiving a pass from Adan Noel about 10 yards from the net. This was the only shot on goal for the Cougars.
The loss to the Golden Eagles marked the third consecutive game where Northeastern failed to score a goal.
Northeastern returned to the pitch Wednesday night as they hosted the UNCW. With crucial playoff positioning on the line, the Huskies tried to make adjustments early in the week in order to help the offense.
“The personnel has stayed the same, but we changed up the formation,” Alexander said. “We’re putting two forwards up top. Christian [McKenna] will be with me so hopefully I can get the ball to him to get behind defenders. We’ll also have [Marini] and [Schallmo] behind us, so hopefully they can help us generate some offense.”
The Huskies lost to UNCW in their final conference game on Wednesday. Both teams generated nine shots in the game.
The Huskies faced an early deficit as UNCW took a 1-0 lead just 16 minutes into the game. Michael Parrish sent a pass to Colin Bonner from midfield. Bonner met the ball and knocked it past sophomore goalie Dylan Faber.
Northeastern tied the game six minutes later when Alexander headed home a Cox free kick.
Two minutes later, Bonner added his second goal of the game as he intercepted an attempted clear by the Huskies and sent the ball past Faber.
Trailing 2-1 at the break, Marini tied the game for Northeastern eight minutes into the second half when he stole a pass intended for the Seahawks’ keeper and shot the ball inside the left post.
UNCW scored would-be game-winner with about 15 minutes remaining in the game. Jamie Dell received a cross from the right side and put the ball in the net from about five yards out.
Bonner completed his hat trick three minutes later when he headed the ball towards goal. The ball bounced off Faber and went into the net.
The Huskies take on the University of Delaware in the opening round of the CAA playoffs Friday night. The Huskies won the lone regular season match between the two programs, 2-0.
