Late Elon goal sends Huskies home empty-handed in CAA Tournament

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Brian Bae

The women’s soccer team lines up on the field before a game against Hofstra.

Jordan Baron, sports editor

The Huskies lost in the most unfortunate of ways in their quarterfinal match against Elon University as a goal in the final minutes of the game gave the Phoenix the 2-1 victory.

The Huskies finish their season 8-10-1, not exactly the record they were looking for at the start of the year. However, their 5-3-1 conference record earned them the fourth seed in the CAA Tournament. The Huskies did emerge victorious against Elon (12-5-2) earlier this week by a 4-0 margin, which pours even more salt in the wound after losing a nail-biter today.

The Huskies momentum coming into the game was quickly squashed, as Elon found the back of the net in the sixth minute. Redshirt junior midfielder Hannah Doherty ripped a shot from a free kick past NU redshirt sophomore goaltender Megan Adams to put the Phoenix up 1-0. Adams amassed only one save in the entire 90 minutes of play, a low number for the talented keeper.

Back-and-forth play followed for the remaining minutes of the first half, and the match entered the second with the Phoenix still up by one.

The Huskies found their groove in the 62nd minute however, as junior forward Chelsea Domond charged up the right side of the field and fired a shot toward the goal. The shot was saved by Elon freshman goalkeeper Katrin Hauksdottir, but it popped into the air and bounced on top of the bar before bounding down into the striding feet of redshirt sophomore forward Kayla McCauley, who poked the ball in to equalize.

The Huskies remained persistent, but the Phoenix defense grew stronger, and the game looked destined for overtime as it passed the 85th minute.

However, just before the clock struck 88 minutes, Elon found their groove as freshman forward Jessica Carrieri received a feed on the left side of the goal and powered it above the arms of Adams to give the Phoenix a 2-1 lead going into the final minutes of the game.

The Elon win ended the NU season in disappointment, as the Huskies failed to advance past the quarterfinals for the first time since 2015. NU led the game in shots 18-9, which proved to be a small positive in a game engulfed in negatives.

The CAA tournament will continue Nov. 3, as Elon takes on Hofstra and JMU takes on Delaware in the semifinals.