By Matthew MacCormack, News Correspondent
Weekends seem to be a lucky time for the Northeastern women’s soccer team.
In a strange developing trend, the Huskies have lost or tied every weekday game they’ve played over the past month but have collected wins in each of their past four Sunday contests.
However you look at it, the Huskies (5-3-2) should be happy with their form thus far. This week, the women suffered a gut-wrenching 1-0 double-overtime loss at Dartmouth College before returning to Parsons Field to orchestrate a brilliant 2-0 victory over the University of Albany. The two contests marked the final non-conference games of the year.
On Friday, the Huskies made the trek up to New Hampshire to battle the Big Green of Dartmouth, who have been a consistent force in the Ivy League over the past few seasons.
The game turned out to be a back-and-forth battle in which NU only mustered two shots on goal in the entire game. After a largely uneventful first half, both the Huskies and the Big Green gathered some momentum in the closing minutes of regulation. NU sophomore striker Nicole Wilkins nearly broke the tie with about a minute to go, but her shot on goal was deflected by Dartmouth sophomore keeper Casey Cousineau.
Both sides failed to score in the first 90 minutes, and the Huskies were forced to enter sudden-death overtime for the second time in four games.
A save from NU senior goalie Paige Burnett kept things level in the first overtime. Dartmouth junior striker Lucielle Kozlov nearly put the Big Green ahead with a rebound effort off of a corner, but Burnett denied the chance.
However, Northeastern would not be so lucky in the second OT. With a mere 14 seconds left on the clock, Kozlov put home a miraculous shot past Burnett to stun the Huskies.
The heartbreaking 1-0 defeat left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Black and Red. However, Head Coach Tracey Leone didn’t feel her team was overmatched but chalked up the loss to a simple lack of sharpness.
“We had a hard time finding that chemistry,” Leone said. “We were out of sync a lot.”
Nonetheless, Sunday was a welcome sight for NU, as the women returned home to take on Albany. Keeping in line with their previous start-of-the-week success, the women came out firing against the Great Danes of the University of Albany.
After dominating possession early on, the Huskies’ breakthrough finally came with nineteen minutes left in the first half. Surrounded by a cloud of Great Danes, freshman striker Carly Wilhelm turned away from the goal and laid off a pass to junior defensive midfielder Carina Deandreis, who found herself with plenty of space. Deandreis had time to take a touch before unleashing a magnificent left-footed effort directly into the top right corner of the goal.
The goal marked the sophomore’s second of the season and put the Huskies in the proverbial driver’s seat for the rest of the game.
“Carly had a great play. She really tracked the ball down and [delivered a] perfect pass,” Deandreis said of her teammate. “I don’t get forward a lot, so when I see the gap, I definitely really commit to it.”
The Huskies continued to apply pressure, and the cracks in the Albany back line began to show. With nine minutes left in the first half, freshman midfielder Hannah Lopiccolo was tripped up in the box, earning the Huskies their first penalty kick (PK) of the season.
Senior center back Bianca Calderone strode confidently to the PK spot and doubled NU’s lead with a bar-down strike.
Neither side was able to find the back of the net in the second half, but the final 45 minutes were filled with Husky attacks. Several forwards created chances off the bench, including Wilhelm, junior forward Shayna Blackwood and sophomore twins Jenny (defense) and Haley Sinclair (forward).
After the dominant 2-0 victory, the girls enjoyed a light moment, when a group of young fans stormed the field to get autographs and take pictures with their Husky heroes.
“It’s so awesome being able to see myself as a role model,” said Deandreis. “It’s definitely really fun to see that what we do makes an impact, even if we don’t realize at first.”
Although the team was in good spirits after the victory, they recognized that their work was far from over, as the Colonial Athletic Association season begins this week. The goal is simple; essentially the only way for the Huskies to return to the NCAA tournament is by winning the CAA.
“We’re going into conference play this weekend, so it’s a really big deal for us to feel like we’re in sync,” Deandreis said.
Leone was confident that the women had gathered valuable lessons from their non-conference slate, as well.
“That’s kind of what it’s about at the beginning of the year, trying to learn all those lessons and make sure that as you go along into the second part of the season, you minimize your mistakes,” she said.
Now, as each game becomes more vital, it’s time for the Huskies to string some wins together. This week, NU heads down south to battle the College of William & Mary and Elon University.
Thus begins the Huskies’ quest to hold on to their title as CAA champions, a task which Leone knows won’t be simple.
“We’ve got to come out ready to go all the time and lay everything out there,” she said. “We can’t go into a game where we’re not competing harder, where we’re not working harder or where we’re not willing to invest more into a game than our opponent.”
Despite the challenge, she looks forward to a bright future for the Huskies.
“If we give that every game consistently, then I think we’ll put ourselves in a position to do well every game and be successful.”
Photo by Kariman Abuljadayel
