By Tyler Blint-Welsh, News Correspondent
After a disappointing first weekend of the season, the Northeastern field hockey team has stretched its winning streak to three games. This marks the team’s longest streak since the 2012 season, with wins over Providence College, Dartmouth College and University of New Hampshire (UNH) in the past eight days.
The Huskies struggled with their defense over the first weekend, giving up four goals to both Temple University and No. 1 ranked University of Maryland. Since then, Head Coach Cheryl Murtagh and her squad have improved, shutting out Dartmouth and limiting New Hampshire to two goals.
Additionally, the women’s sound defense has led to numerous fast-break opportunities on offense, shown by Kelly Dunn and Kate Carlson, who lead the team with three goals each this season.
Murtagh credits them both with being able to “do the simple things well” and for being “the most consistent players and hardest workers on the team.”
After being outshot by Maryland 21-4, Murtagh said that her team was able to “take a lot of lessons away from the first weekend and adjust accordingly.”
These adjustments allowed the Huskies to outshoot Dartmouth 14-3, the lowest number of shots allowed by Northeastern so far this season. They also played more efficiently against UNH, with all nine of their shots coming as shots on goal.
Against Dartmouth, the Huskies were able to start the game off with a fast-paced, up-and-down approach. They outshot the Big Green 6-0 in the first half.
UNH was able to limit the Huskies’ fast-break opportunities. Heading into the second half down 1-0, Northeastern came out looking sharper on offense, which led to three second-half goals.
Kate Carlson supplied the clincher off a penalty corner with 2:17 left. Corners have been a point of emphasis for Murtagh this season. Five of Northeastern’s last seven goals have been off of penalties.
This year’s team is comprised of 14 underclassmen and seven upperclassmen, and many of the improvements have been credited to the leadership of the senior players.
“[The] upperclassmen have done a great job of leading the team and developing our freshmen and sophomore players,” Murtagh said.
The season is still young, and Murtagh is confident that the Huskies will be successful. However, she pointed out that there are still “a lot of improvements to make on defense, attacking and finishing.”
For now, she just wants to focus on “working hard and improving as much as we can every day,” she said.
The Huskies take the field again on Friday, Sept. 19 against Monmouth University.
Photo by Steve Lipofsky, Northeastern Athletics
