By Ethan Schroeder, news correspondent
In an exciting, hard-fought game by both sides, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s (UNCW) men’s soccer team was defeated Northeastern 2-0 Saturday night at Parsons Field.
Coming off of a humbling 5-0 defeat at the hands of Elon University, the Huskies (5-9-0) needed to put forth their best effort in order to compete with the Seahawks (10-3-2), currently ranked 33rd in the NCAA Men’s Soccer Rating Percentage Index. Northeastern, ranked 121st in the Index, started strong in the first half of Saturday’s game, earning scoring chances only six minutes in when freshman midfielder Brad Fountain nearly put a free kick past UNCW junior goalkeeper Sam Williams. Seven minutes later, NU put the pressure on again when a strike from freshman forward Frantzdy Pierrot was blocked and sent out of bounds.
Northeastern was able to produce five shots in the first half while only allowing one from its opponent. Although it seemed as though the hometown team was in control, things took a turn in the 21st minute when freshman goalkeeper Jonathan Thuresson left the game with an injury. Junior goalkeeper Dylan Faber was called into action, denying UNCW for the remainder of the first 45 minutes.
“You try and prepare for every game like you’re going to start,” Faber said. “In reality, it’s hard to get subbed in 20 minutes in. It’s unexpected. I think I played well in the first half.”
Faber continued to make saves for the Huskies well into the second half, but UNCW was able to break the 0-0 deadlock in the 62nd minute. A yellow card given to NU freshman defender Daniel Korman set the Seahawks up with an opportunistic free kick, which UNCW senior midfielder Mateo Cardona was able to bury in the top right corner of the goal.
Refusing to settle for a one-goal lead, UNCW struck again one minute later when Cardona capitalized on a rebound from a shot by senior midfielder Jamie Dell and steered the ball into the net. Quickly put into a hole, the Huskies continued to fight, but found themselves unable to score. A free kick from Fountain struck post in the 80th minute and another shot from Pierrot just missed wide-left in the 86th, leaving the Huskies with a loss and bringing their conference record to 2-2.
NU was able to outshoot UNCW 11-8 with four of those shots on goal. Despite dropping to .500, Head Coach Brian Ainscough was quite pleased with the team’s play against a tough opponent while dealing with the injuries of multiple Husky starters.
“[Saturday’s game] wasn’t as bad as the scoreline would show,” Ainscough said. “I was happy with everything in the game but the result, especially with the amount of injuries that we’ve had as of late. We had five players not start the game that normally start…I really think that the performance overall, with what was going on playing against one of the top teams, was very encouraging.”
Northeastern returns home for a Saturday game against the College of William & Mary. Coach Ainscough is confident that the team will be able to make its way into the postseason despite the losing streak.
“I think if we play with that type of energy and focus, we’ll get enough wins to push on into the playoffs,” he said.
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
