If I promise you anything with this week’s column, it’s that I’m not going to talk about football. For one, at this point it’s just unnecessarily piling on, and two, they’re in an impossible situation to begin with. The players and coaches bust their butts, but they’re woefully underfunded compared to other Football Championship Subdivision programs.
So, while you count down the days to the basketball and hockey seasons, instead I’m going to point out what a promising season our women’s soccer team is starting to put together, which you might have missed amidst all the moaning and groaning about football.
In the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, released Tuesday, the Huskies received 42 votes, which was the 33rd most in the nation, although they only count an official top 25. In the Mid-Atlantic region, however, which encompasses the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), they were ranked first. Behind them were conference rivals like William & Mary (No. 2), James Madison (No. 4), George Mason (No. 7) and Hofstra (No. 9).
If Northeastern is to repeat as CAA champions, that’s a good start.
NU has already topped big conference opponents like Cincinnati (Big East) and Clemson (Atlantic Coast Conference) while hanging tough with nationally-ranked Georgia (Southeastern Conference). They’ve done it mostly without a player, sophomore forward Veronica Napoli, who was named to the preseason watch list for the women’s soccer equivalent of the Heisman. They’ve done it with just one senior on the roster, captain Liza Rebello, and four juniors.
It’s no fluke, either. This is largely the same team that went to the second round of the NCAA tournament last year, the same team that stormed through the CAA tournament and captured the league crown for the first time.
This is also the same coach, Ed Matz, who guided the men’s program to its only NCAA tournament in 2002 before taking over with the women in 2005. All on a light Northeastern Athletics Department budget.
When talking about his team’s performance against New Hampshire over the weekend (a 1-0 double overtime win), he said it was characterized by its ability to continually find a way to win. And that’s exactly what it has done and, one would presume, continue to keep doing.
Since its 2-1 loss at James Madison last Oct. 24, something has clicked. Northeastern won its last two regular season games last year, then three in a row in the CAA tournament to win the league, and then another over Harvard in the first round of the NCAA tournament before getting knocked out by BC. Add in the 4-1 start to this year, and the Huskies are 10-2 in their last 12, with the two losses coming to BC and Georgia. That ought to give reason to believe that when NU starts CAA play Oct. 2 at Drexel, it will be expected to at least qualify for another CAA tournament, even if the playoff spots have been reduced to four from six this year.
Matz and his team deserves a lot of credit for what they’ve already done, and even more if they manage to keep it up. There’s a home game tomorrow night against BU, so go out, and give them your support, if for no other reason than to root against BU in something ‘- anything. There are six other home games after that, culminating in an Oct. 31 regular-season finale with Hofstra at Parsons Field.
So if you’re itching to see a quality Northeastern team, you don’t have to keep counting down until the hockey or basketball season starts. And you needn’t keep holding your breath on football. There’ll be a women’s soccer game at Parsons tomorrow night.

‘- Jonathan Raymond can be reached at [email protected].