By Kyle Taylor, deputy sports editor 

The Northeastern University (NU) men’s soccer team was unable to win against the University of Delaware and Hofstra University this past week, resulting in their second three game losing streak of the season. The Huskies are now 2-7 on the season.

The team traveled to the University of Delaware last Saturday for their second game of the season against a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opponent. The game was deadlocked for nearly an hour before the Huskies allowed three goals in just nine minutes and then another in the 88th minute, resulting in a 4-0 loss. The Huskies took two shots on goal while Delaware tallied eight during Northeastern’s first loss in the conference.

“Delaware was a good team that deserved to win,” head coach Chris Gbandi said. “I wouldn’t get too carried away with the shots, especially on the road. Anytime a player kicks a ball anywhere close to the goal they count it as a shot […] For whatever reason we just haven’t been able to score goals, it’s one of those things that we have to figure out and we will.”

Next, the team returned home to Parsons Field to play Hofstra yesterday, but were unable to get a win against the second team in the Huskies’ three game conference match-up, losing 3-0. Hofstra wasted no time, scoring on their only shot on goal in the first half in just the 11th minute of the game. However, at the start of the second half Hofstra jumped out to a large lead, scoring in the 48th minute and again in the 57th minute. Senior forward Khesanio Hall took five out of the Huskies’ nine shots while recording the only shot on goal of the game for Northeastern.

The Huskies have not won back-to-back games this season, but the team remains hopeful. “I think [our players] have been working hard and doing their best,” Gbandi said. “It’s just unfortunate. It’s difficult to win on the road, and six of our last eight games have been on the road. Playing at home is a lot easier and a lot more comfortable. I think the fans during the second half of the season, where a lot of our games are at home, will see us put some wins together.”

Gbandi has said the goal for the season is to win the conference and get into the NCAA tournament.  Northeastern is currently 1-2 in the conference after the back-to-back losses to the University of Delaware and Hofstra.

The final game of NU’s three-game conference stint will be away against the College of William & Mary this Saturday. The team will get a break from CAA play on Tuesday when they take on the University of Hartford.

“It’s one of those things where you just have to take care of business in terms of playing the game in front of you,” said Gbandi. “William and Mary is a good team and I’m sure that playing at their place will be difficult, but it’s really about one game at a time.”

The men’s soccer team doesn’t return home again until they go up against Elon University – another member of the conference – on Saturday, Oct. 8. at 6 p.m.

Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics.