After opening the season Sept. 1 with a dramatic overtime victory over host University of Albany, the men’s soccer team struggled to build on its momentum, suffering 1-0 losses in its next two matches against No. 10 Dartmouth Sept. 6 and Providence yesterday.
Low-scoring affairs have been the trend through the first three games of the season for the Huskies: Each game had a 1-0 outcome. After scoring the game-winning goal in the 96th minute against Albany, Northeastern was held scorless in their next two games against Dartmouth and Providence. Senior forward Matt Laning said the Huskies need to finish offensively.
‘[We] have to get better offensively, because our goal scoring is lacking,’ said Laning said.
Despite the losses, Laning said the team was excited about newcomer Michael Gallagher, the Huskies’ freshman keeper, who picked up the shutout win and gave a strong showing against Dartmough to begin his Northeastern career at 1-1.
‘[Gallagher] is looking pretty good,’ Laning said. ‘Unfortunately in the Dartmouth game he let up a pretty unlucky goal. It was from about 40 yards out and slipped and the kid even miss-kicked it. He’s definitely going to be an asset to the team in his career.’
Sophomore Mike Kennedy scored the game-winning goal in the Huskies win over Albany, connecting on a pass from sophomore Josh Semerene. Northeastern outshot Albany 26 to 18 and had more shots on goal as well, 10 to 7, as Gallagher tallied seven saves in the shutout.
Last season the Huskies saw nine regular sesaon games go into overtime, tying seven and dropping two. Thus, leaving Albany with a win instead of empty handed was refreshing for the squad said Laning.
‘It was pretty satisfying,’ he said. ‘We played something like 210 minutes in overtime last year and it was frustrating not winning and just tying. It was pretty satisfying for the whole team.’
However, the team struggled to carry that momentum into Hanover, N.H., Sept. 6 when it took on the No. 10 Dartmouth Big Green. The Huskies lost 1-0 on a goal in the fifth minute that snuck past Gallagher as he lost his footing on a free kick from 45 yards out.
‘It was a pretty good atmosphere,’ said senior Captain Brendan Ennis, who is nursing a preseason leg injury and expected back on the field in the next few weeks. More than 1,000 fans came to Burnham Field Sept. 6. ‘I thought we controlled most of the play for the majority of the game but got really unlucky with the goal. I thought that we showed that we can play with some of the top twenty teams in the country.’
Despite their ability to hang with one of the top teams in the nation, the Huskies only mustered seven shots and only one shot on goal while Providence had 14 total shots, seven of which were on target.
Those struggles continued yesterday at Providence’s Glay Field. The Huskies let up a goal in the 34th minute and couldn’t capitalize on any opportunities to tie the game.
Senior keeper Scott Partridge manned the net in the effort, tallying four saves on 14 shots in his season debut.
‘I felt like Providence had the upper hand in the first half and just played extremely well,’ Laning said. ‘They did a good job and just executed their game plan. We battled back in the second half and had a few chances.’
The Huskies take to Parsons Field at 2 p.m. Tuesday to take on Holy Cross in their home opener.