By Jenna Ciccotelli, deputy sports editor

First-year goalkeeper Julia Gluyas may have had a record-setting day Sunday as the Northeastern University field hockey team took on the Princeton Tigers at home, but in a perfect world, Gluyas’ career-best nine saves would never have reached her pads in the first place.

Yet as Northeastern was outshot 23-5 in their first shutout loss of the season against Princeton, with the first goal of three against the Huskies coming in the first three minutes of play, head coach Cheryl Murtagh remained confident.

“They can play great defense, this team,” she said. “Laura MacLachlan stepped up and played extremely well today. I was happy for our goalkeeper. After that first shot, I think she hung in there pretty well against some tough shots, so I’m very happy for her.”

The Huskies took to Dedham Field lacking star forwards third-year June Curry-Lindahl and fourth-year Kristin Abreu, who missed their first game of the season. Curry-Lindahl sustained an ankle injury during a game against Boston College Friday and Abreu was tending to a sore quad.

Last Friday, the Huskies held their own against the nationally-ranked Eagles, who hold the last spot in the country’s top 10 rankings, answering their opponent’s first-half goal early in the second before giving up BC’s go-ahead point with five minutes remaining in the game.

First-year back Aniek van de Graaf scored the Huskies’ lone goal on a penalty corner pass from graduate back Ffion Thompson, who had stopped the insertion from Curry-Lindahl.

Both teams had 11 shots on the day, but Northeastern managed to outshoot their opponent on goal 7-4. Gluyas had two saves.

“[Gluyas] is very athletic,” Murtagh said. “She’s very smart, and I think she’s learned to be a little more patient. She’s very aggressive and wants to make the plays, but what she’s learning is at this level you can’t be jumping. You have to see the balls, make the plays, and I think she’s learning that.”

Four of Northeastern’s last five games were played against nationally-ranked opponents, with the Huskies outscored 14-3 against the No. 19 College of William & Mary (11-4, 3-0 CAA), No. 25 Boston University (9-6), Boston College (11-5) and No. 14 Princeton (8-6). The team will return to conference play Friday against James Madison University, looking to put an end to their three game losing streak and secure their eighth win of the season.

“It is part of the plan, that we play tough teams so we are ready for conference play, which is next weekend,” Murtagh said. “It teaches us a lot. It teaches what we’re good at, what we need to be better at if we want to get to the level we want to be at.”