By Jenna Ciccotelli, news staff
The Northeastern University (NU) field hockey team fell to Wake Forest University in overtime on Sunday, Oct. 23. The Demon Deacons edged out the Huskies 2-1.
Senior goalkeeper Becky Garner tied her season-high with nine saves on the day as Wake Forest had 11 shots on goal compared to the Huskies’ three. Garner needs seven more saves this season to move into second place on Northeastern’s all-time saves list.
Wake Forest freshman forward Nicola Pluta sent a shot into the goal in the first half, but officials judged it to be too high, sending the game into the second half at 0-0.
“We were doing some things well. I don’t think we capitalized on the opportunities that we had,” head coach Cheryl Murtagh said of the Huskies’ first half play. “I thought [we] were playing good defense against a pretty successful scoring team.”
The Demon Deacons got on the board first in the second half on their fourth penalty corner of the game. Shortly after, Pluta launched another goal that was deemed too high yet again.
With Wake Forest ahead by one and 20 seconds remaining on the clock, NU senior midfielder Natalie Stewart stole the ball from Wake Forest, sending a shot into the bottom right corner of the goal and pushing the Huskies into their sixth overtime game of the season.
Less than two minutes into the overtime period, Wake Forest junior back Rachel Hirsh scored the game-winner on her own rebound.
NU is now 2-4 in overtime games. “We need to have [an overtime] lineup that will be able to handle a lot of one on ones, which is what we’re struggling with,” Murtagh said. “We had a really good chance on attack in the very beginning [of the overtime period] but we lost possession. We need to work on ball possession.”
The Huskies’ regular season comes to a close this weekend; starting with a match at the University of Delaware on Friday, Oct. 28, and ending with a home game against Towson on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. The team will also honor the senior members of their squad.
“They’re must-win games for us to even have a chance [to make the championship tournament],” Murtagh said. “We need everybody on the team to do what they need to do and play their role.”
