By Matt Anasatsi & Tim Foley, News Correspondents
After upsetting James Madison University in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship, the Huskies reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008, but were defeated Friday in the first round by Boston College in a 2-0 shutout.
The team traveled to Chestnut Hill to face their local rivals in front of a crowd packed with supporters for both teams. The Huskies rolled into Friday’s matchup riding a three-game postseason winning streak.
However, the stingy defensive play of late didn’t carry over into the first round of the NCAA tournament. Only eight and a half minutes into the first period, Boston College sophomore McKenzie Meehan put the team ahead a goal.
“I think as the game started, we were a little bit nervous,” coach Tracey Leone said. “This was the first time that any of our players had played in an NCAA tournament game. It was quite an experience playing in front of such a large crowd, and I’d like to thank our fans for allowing us to have that experience.”
The Boston College attack maintained possession for most of the first half, taking 12 shots as opposed to Northeastern’s one. Goalkeeper Paige Burnett held off the Eagle attack for the remainder of the period as the junior collected six saves while the defense added three blocks. Leonne said her team struggled offensively against the Eagles.
“Part of Boston College’s defending is their attacking,” Leone said. “They try to make you defend more than you would like, and they pinned us in our end which made it difficult to really get any chances on goal.”
Boston College tacked on an insurance goal just 38 seconds into the second half. Eagle midfielder Lauren Bernard beat Burnett and deposited an unassisted goal into the back of the net to give BC the 2-0 advantage.
“Boston College came out pretty much as we expected them to come out,” Leone said. “Since we came out nervous, it created some challenges, and Boston College was able to create some momentum, and give themselves confidence.”
The deficit would not be overcome by the Huskies as the offense struggled to get quality shots againt the Eagles strong defensive effort, putting only one bid on net in the second period. The lone shot came from sophomore midfielder Shayna Blackwood and was handled by BC keeper Alex Johnson.
The Eagle attack continued to dominate in terms of possession time, and the Northeastern back line had to weather an eight-shot assault. Three shots were on goal and Burnett fended off two of them. Despite the defensive effort in the second period, the Husky attack struggled to reel off enough shots to overwhelm Johnson and the Eagle back line.
With a heartbreaking but positive end to their season, the Huskies will look to use the experiences of this year moving forward. Northeastern will only be losing two seniors heading into next fall, leaving Leone quite excited about the possibilities that await her team next season with seasoned players who have succeeded at such a high level.
“To go from UCLA, and the struggles we went through early in the season, to winning a conference championship, has been a great Cinderella story,” Leone said. “Everything we went through prepared us for winning a conference championship. The struggles and frustration we went through early built our character and made us mentally tough.”
