By Ethan Schroeder, news correspondent
Last week was one of great highs and lows for the Northeastern men’s soccer team. The team started with a 1-0 overtime victory at home against Drexel University, improving their Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) record to 2-0. Following the close win, the Huskies were trounced 5-0 in a game at Elon University.
Looking forward to a fresh start with the introduction of conference play, NU (5-8-0) came into Wednesday’s game with Drexel (4-6-3) eager to capitalize on its victory against the College of Charleston on Oct. 4. With 16 shots in total to the Dragons’ six, Northeastern took control of the game tempo early and did not let up.
In the first half, the Huskies held Drexel to zero shots on goal while threatening to score at various intervals. A give-and-go from freshman defender Lewis Aird and freshman midfielder Charlton Muhlauwwri nearly put the home team ahead in the ninth minute, but Aird’s shot was steered away by Drexel sophomore goalkeeper Tyler Afflerbach. The score remained 0-0 at halftime, but Northeastern looked ready to strike.
The ensuing half played out similar to the first 45 minutes, with NU continuing to move the ball and create chances. Despite earning five corner kicks and two opportunistic free kicks, the Huskies found themselves unable to place any of their six shots of the half on goal. Drexel was able to find more success moving forward, even finding itself in a two-on-one attacking situation within the final 10 minutes, but the stopping power of freshman goalkeeper Jonathan Thuresson and Northeastern’s defense prevented celebration from the Dragons’ side as well.
The stalemate between the two teams remained until the seventh minute of overtime when a shot from Aird was deflected and found the foot of freshman forward Ackim Mpofu, who slotted the ball into the lower right corner of the goal to give the Huskies the victory. Mpofu credited the leadership of senior central defenders Simon Cox and Ambry Moss in fueling the team’s drive to win in extra time.
“Every time we go to overtime, I have my seniors Simon and Ambry telling me to push hard because they believe I have the potential,” Mpofu said. “[Extra time] is all about pushing yourself and having the drive to finish, and I think I possessed that tonight.”
Associate Head Coach Brendan Burke was pleased with the team’s offensive production that eventually led to Mpofu’s winning goal.
“We talked about getting low, hard service into the box just before overtime, and Ackim had a fantastic night,” Burke said. “It was appropriate that he was the one to finish it.”
Northeastern was able to ride a two-game winning streak into Elon, N.C., on Saturday night, but were taught a firm lesson from the Phoenix (5-4-3) in the form of five goals. Setting the tone early, Elon created four shots within the game’s first 15 minutes and began lighting up the scoreboard in the 16th minute with a shot just past the left post from junior midfielder James Brace. The floodgates opened from there and Northeastern found itself down 3-0 at halftime.
With only two shots on goal, the Huskies found difficulty matching their offensive production from the previous game. Their defensive effort proved to be equally disappointing. Elon was able to score another goal on Thuresson in the 54th minute and added one more on junior goalkeeper Dylan Faber after he was substituted in nine minutes later.
Despite the low quality of play against the Phoenix, the Huskies will look for a return to the success they had in the first two games of conference play as they continue on.
“We’ve played good, fundamental soccer,” Burke said in response to the team’s 2-0 start before facing Elon.
NU will need to continue to play solid soccer when it returns home to face a tough opponent in no. 27 University of North Carolina at Wilmington on Saturday at Parsons Field.
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
