Before Friday, the women’s soccer team hadn’t won a game in over a month.
Junior goalie Mariel Wilner had five saves against the Colonial Athletic Association’s (CAA) top scoring team as the Huskies shut out Old Dominion 1-0 to snap Northeastern’s eight-game winless streak. The two wins were the Huskies first against CAA opponents.
The Northeastern News Player of the Week repeated on Sunday with four saves against William ‘ Mary to get her third shutout of the season and the team’s second consecutive win. Wilner was also named CAA Co-Player of the Week.
“We will take wins any way we can get them, but the shutouts are especially nice,” Wilner said. “It gives the strikers the chance to score only one goal and the team still gets the win.”
Old Dominion averages 2.21 goals per game and had not been shut out all season before facing Wilner and the Huskies. Wilner was also able to keep the CAA’s leading scorer, Laura Beeman, from converting on any of her three shots.
“They definitely have a quality offense, but my defense did their job, so I only had to make a few saves,” she said. “It definitely wasn’t a quiet afternoon but we were able to get through the difficult periods and keep their offense at bay.”
Two saves in each half of Sunday’s game were all that was needed to keep William ‘ Mary from scoring as the Huskies took their second 1-0 win over the weekend.
“There were a few moments in the first half where the wind got a hold of the ball. That brings on a whole new set of challenges,” Wilner said.
The two shutouts boosted Wilner’s save percentage to .714. It also placed her fourth in the CAA in total saves (35) and saves per game (5).
Milner’s first shutout of the season came against No. 9 Boston College on Sept. 21, when she made four saves to keep the game a 0-0 tie.
The business major transferred to Northeastern last year from the University of Maryland. In her first season as a Husky she has a 1.10 goals against average, which currently ranks first in school history. She was also two minutes shy of Cynthia Slowik’s record for most minutes played in a season, set in 2002.
– Compiled by staff writerErika Carrubba.
