By Giovanni Gray, news staff
After a pair of weekend losses, the Northeastern University (NU) women’s soccer team will head to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament on Sunday, looking to recapture its momentum and third consecutive CAA championship title.
The Huskies faced off against Drexel University on Friday. NU junior midfielder Breeana Koemans opened up the scoring in the eighth minute, notching her third goal in three games. Drexel tied the game at 1-1 in the 37th minute off the leg of freshman Vanessa Kara, beating NU freshman goalkeeper Nathalie Nidetch.
Drexel gained a 2-1 advantage in the 44th minute when sophomore Wilhelmina Hauch-Fausboll netted Drexel’s go-ahead goal. The Dragons didn’t look back, scoring the game’s final goal in the 67th minute en route to a 3-1 victory.
The Huskies, sitting at 4-3-1 after Friday’s matchup, went on to face the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens on Sunday afternoon, honoring the squad’s seniors in their final regular season matchup of their collegiate careers.
Delaware freshman forward Riley Curtin scored the game’s lone goal just under two minutes in. Despite Northeastern’s 16-6 shot advantage, the matchup ended in a 1-0 loss for the home team.
The game marked the third time the Huskies have been shut out this season and the first time since NU’s scoreless tie against Elon University on Sept. 25.
Despite the pair of losses, the Huskies were still able to earn a spot in the conference tournament as a fifth seed.
“The last few games were a little bit of a struggle for us, but the irony is, in two of those three games, we actually played really well in terms of possession,” Head Coach Tracey Leone said.
The Huskies managed to post 16 shots against the Blue Hens, but only attempted four corner kicks compared to Delaware’s eight, a statistical category NU usually finds itself leading in. In their loss to the Dragons, the Huskies posted 20 shots, with sophomores Hannah Lopiccolo and Kayla Cappuzzo attempting four and five, respectively.
NU is scheduled to take on James Madison University (JMU) on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament.
“They’re a very good team,” Leone said. “They’re such a possession-oriented team. They’re just fun to play against.”
The Huskies edged out JMU 1-0 on sophomore midfielder Hannah Lopiccolo’s goal in their regular season match on Oct. 9.
“The good thing is we obviously have played them this season,” Leone said. “We actually played quite well, and we played them at their place, so we have that experience going into the game.”
Leone noted that the team would have to emphasize dead-ball situations and focus on its defensive game.
“We’ve got to go into [the tournament] with the highest level of concentration and commitment that we can possibly have,” she said. “Going into the postseason, the margin of error is small or zero.”
Photo by Scotty Schenck
