By Giovanni Gray, news staff

In a game to decide who would sit on top of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) standings, Northeastern University women’s soccer took on Hofstra University on Friday night. The matchup at Parsons Field ended in a 2-1 loss for Northeastern, putting the team at No. 4 in the CAA just two weeks before the conference tournament.

Headed into the matchup, the Pride and Huskies led the CAA with 14 points each, bothwith a 4-1-1 record prior to the meeting.

Riding a four-game win streak, NU got off to a slow start. The team didn’t register its first shot on goal until the 34th minute, when sophomore forward Carly Wilhelm fired off a shot that hit the crossbar. The Huskies held the Pride scoreless for the half, but the Huskies also failed the score, and the game was tied at zero headed into the break. Freshman goalkeeper Nathalie Nidetch registered two saves in the half.

Head Coach Tracey Leone said she felt like the first half was frantic and that the team wasn’t as composed, though she also said that she believed the team’s intensity was where it needed to be.

Things heated up in the second half as Hofstra fired off two quick shots on goal in the first four minutes. The game remained scoreless until the 67th minute, when Hofstra’s junior midfielder Jill Mulholland netted the first goal.  

The Huskies created some chances – junior midfielder Breeana Koemans took three corner kicks between the 81st and 84th minutes – though none of them resulted in goals.

Koemans, who kicked nine corners over the course of the game, tied the game in the 86th minute after a Hofstra foul set up an NU free kick. Junior midfielder Carina Deandreis touched the ball off to Koemans for the assist.  

Regulation ended with the game in a 1-1 tie, and Northeastern entered its seventh overtime contest of the season, holding an overall 5-0-1 record in overtimegamesprior to Friday’s matchup. Overtime opened up with a missed Hofstra shot in the 92nd minute, but the Pride put an end to the game just a few minutes later in the 96th when Mulholland scored her second goalof the night.  

The matchup was a rematch of the final game in last year’s CAA tournament, in which the Huskies knocked off the Pride 2-0 en route to the CAA title.    

Leone said that despite the heartbreaking loss, she was proud of her team.

The Huskies face off against Drexel University on Friday at 6 p.m. and the University of Delaware on Sunday at 1 p.m., their final two matches before the CAA tournament. Both games are at Parsons Field.

Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics