By By Kirby Morrison, News Staff

The men’s soccer team suffered its third 1-0 loss of the season at Parsons Field Saturday, this time at the feet of UMass.
The Huskies were similarly blanked by No. 10 Dartmouth Sept. 6 at Hanover, N.H., and at Providence Sept. 13, but came out on the other side of a 1-0 decision when they beat Albany Sept. 1 on the road.
Saturday’s loss dropped them to 1-4-0 on the year and marked the second consecutive game in which they outshot their opponent and lost. Northeastern had 13 shots, four of which were on goal, while the Minutemen had eight shots, three of which were on goal.
Through this season’s first five games, Northeastern has outshot its opponents 72-52 but has fewer shots on goal (24-27).
When asked how the team can improve scoring offensively, senior forward Matt Laning said, ‘I don’t know. Whoever can answer that question has to talk to our coach immediately because it’s becoming a real problem.
‘We keep getting chances but can’t finish.’
As it has all season, a strong defense led by junior captain Matt Sanford kept Northeastern in the game, allowing no shots on goal in the first half. The UMass attack was rendered useless in the first half but scored in the 83rd minute when Ben Arikian snuck one past freshman keeper Michael Gallagher.
Sophomore forward Mike Kennedy, who has scored one of Northeastern’s two goals this year, lauded the backfield’s efforts, but said the offense needs to match the defense.
‘It’s kind of frustrating, they’ve done a great job all year,’ he said of the defense. ‘We just wish we could help them out a little bit.’
The Huskies had a chance to equalize the game in the last seconds when senior Captain Lars Okland played a ball that landed in front of Laning at the top of the 18, but the shot went straight to keeper Chris Piekos, who earned a shutout.
Coming up next for the Huskies will be a matchup against Fairfield Sept. 22 at Parsons Field, which will be their final game before Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. The last time these two teams met, Northeastern won 2-1 in its first win of the 2008 season. It will be the final non-conference contest before CAA conference play begins. The Huskies finished 5-2-4 in CAA matchups last season.
‘I’m sure [Coach Ainscough] is just going to tell us to win at any cost,’ Laning said. ‘Our work ethic has been great. [Ainscough] hasn’t complained about that, we just have to find a way to score.
Despite the 1-4-0 record, Kennedy said Northeastern’s stellar defensive play and abundance of shots should translate into victories soon.
‘We’ve been playing real well lately, we just have to finish,’ said Kennedy. ‘We’ve been dominating teams, we just got to finish and take our time.’

‘