By Danielle Ossher

The field hockey team opened their season last weekend in Illinois with two strong games that has led them to a 1-1 record.

The Huskies fell 2-1 to Northwestern Friday after the Wildcats scored a goal 23 seconds into overtime. Despite the loss the Huskies controlled most of the game with a 15-5 shot advantage and 6-1 advantage in penalty corners.

“It’s a pretty tough loss,” said head coach Cheryl Murtaugh. “I think we outplayed them but you can see by the stats that we didn’t finish.”

The Wildcats scored in the first half and held the lead going into halftime, but the Huskies tied the game with just more than 15 minutes to play. Senior captain and preseason All-Colonial Athletic Association honoree Ashley Webber netted the unassisted goal.

In overtime Northwestern’s Alex Quinn got a shot past senior keeper Liz Centofanti for the game-winner.

The Huskies came out strong in their second game of the weekend, defeating Ball State 4-1 Sunday. Northeastern dominated the play, holding the Cardinals to one shot.

“I think the team had put a lot of pressure on Northwestern, and we wanted to do the same to Ball State,” Murtaugh said.

Redshirt freshman Meg Sweeny scored the only goal of the first half for the Huskies. In the second half, true freshman midfielder Pam Aldridge netted her first goal as a Husky. Senior forward Harriett Hoyer also scored two for NU.

Centofanti, who started in net for both games, was barely tested seeing only 6 shots total. She finished the weekend allowing 3 goals for a 1.5 goals against average.

The Huskies started the season with promise, showing balanced scoring and an emphasis on team defense.

Northeastern finished the 2006 season with a losing record of 10-12 (4-4 CAA) for only the second time in Murtaugh’s 20 year coaching career. The team is looking to put that season behind them and it all starts in the locker room.

“The team atmosphere feels a lot better this year,” Webber said.

Coming into this season, Northeastern lost several key players to graduation including offensive forces Whitney Shean and Sarah Eckhoff and three defensive players. However, the freshmen class looks to be one of the deepest in years.

“[The goal is to] keep competing like this, keep improving as a team and put ourselves in a good position for the season,” Murtaugh said.

The Huskies play their next game against Maryland, the 2006 National Champions, at 1 p.m. Saturday. They will make their Sweeny Field debut Sept. 15 against Boston University at 1 p.m.