By Ethan Schroeder, news correspondent
The Northeastern men’s soccer team was able to shake off a 1-0 home loss to the College of Holy Cross early in the week to defeat the College of Charleston 1-0 to start conference play on a positive note.
Coming off of a hard-fought overtime victory against Stony Brook University the week before, the Huskies (4-7-0) headed into last Wednesday night’s contest against Holy Cross (4-3-2) looking to build on their momentum. The heavy showers that soaked spectators at Parsons Field were a symbol of the dreary play from Northeastern to come.
First half play was uneventful on both sides, with only six shots taken between the two teams. Northeastern’s freshman defender Lewis Aird almost put his team ahead with an impressive free kick around a wall of defenders in the 18th minute, but the Holy Cross goalkeeper Kevin Wright was able to deflect the shot out of bounds. Led by two shots from freshman forward Frantzdy Pierrot, NU was able to create more chances in the first 45 minutes, but failed to complete any.
As the weather worsened in the second half, Holy Cross’ play saw improvement. The Crusaders struck for the only goal of the game in the 59th minute when a long entry pass from sophomore defender Ryan Gavey found the foot of sophomore forward Joey DeVivo and deflected past Husky junior goalkeeper Dylan Faber.
NU was able to muster up a few more chances following the goal but to no avail, as DeVivo’s strike would prove to be the game-winner. Despite the loss, teammates and fans were treated to the return of Husky freshman forward Brad Fountain, who suffered an injury in the team’s game against Harvard University on Sept. 23.
“We wanted to save [Fountain] for the weekend, but he’s been a great part of the group this year as a young player,” Head Coach Brian Ainscough said. “You saw a difference when he came on; I really think he helped us settle the game down and really take command.”
Saturday’s Colonial Athletic Association opener against Charleston gave the Huskies a chance to start over. The first half played out similarly to NU’s previous match, with few scoring chances from either side. Charleston senior forward Tanner Clay barely missed the frame halfway through the period, and Pierrot had a solid opportunity, but an offensive prowess was lacking.
The 0-0 stalemate continued into the second half. The Huskies almost struck in the 61st minute of the game when redshirt senior forward Nick Goo got his head on a cross from Fountain, but Cougar junior goalkeeper Alex Young was able to make the save.
The game’s first and only goal came in the 74th minute, when Northeastern sophomore forward Christian McKenna played a ball from midfield to the left side of Charleston’s defensive third near senior forward Donovan Fayd’Herbe de Maudave. Young made an attempt to come out and retrieve the ball, but Fayd’Herbe de Maudave beat him to it and executed a chip to put the ball in the back of the net. Charleston kept up the pressure following the goal, but the Huskies’ freshman goalkeeper Jonathan Thuresson was able to stifle any close calls. Thuresson earned a shutout as the Huskies got the victory.
“We’ve got a really good defense with two really good center-halves in Ambry [Moss] and Simon [Cox],” Thuresson said. “The whole team put in effort to defend the goal and really made my job a lot easier.”
Both Ainscough and Thuresson stressed that the start of games against conference opponents is an opportunity to right the team’s path.
“The good thing about conference [play] is that it feels like it’s a new season,” Ainscough said. “We’ve been pretty successful in conference games over the last four or five years.”
The Huskies have been particularly successful in conference openers, with a record of 5-2-0 over the past seven seasons.
Northeastern continues its season at Drexel University on Friday.
Photo by Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
