By Andrew Parente
The Huskies picked up their first win of the season Sunday at Parsons Field with a 4-0 win over Maine.
The team had lost three games to start the year but was able to put forth a dominating effort in the first home game of the season. Senior forward Greg Kilkenny tallied three assists for the Huskies, who saw goals come from four different players.
“It’s definitely nice to get that monkey off our back,” said head coach Brian Ainscough. “If we can get a few more wins in these next couple of home games, I think that will put us in good shape going into league play.”
Northeastern scored its first goal in the 11th minute off a free kick from Kilkenny just outside the 18-yard box, which was headed in by senior forward Ahmed Talaat. The goal was the first scored this season by the Huskies.
The remainder of the first half was dominated by the Huskies after a few chances from Maine were halted by the NU defense and sophomore goalie Mahmoud Talaat.
NU’s second goal came in the 41st minute when Kilkenny found sophomore midfielder Matt Laning, who dribbled past the defense and beat Maine goalie Nemanja Kostic for his first goal of the year.
The second half was more of the same for Northeastern, who controlled the play, which led to the Huskies’ next tally of the game in the 57th minute.
Kilkenny received another free kick and was able to spot senior midfielder Padraig Tangney breaking toward the net. Tangney headed the ball past Kostic making the score 3-0.
Just minutes later, the game was stopped when Maine sophomore Philip Reed collided with Mahmoud Talaat and went down hard. Reed remained down and was taken off the field by paramedics. He was able to move his extremities before being removed and his status is unknown as of press time.
Northeastern’s final goal of the game came in the 65th minute when sophomore forward Konrad Stefanek caught Kostic out of position and fired a shot past him and into an open net.
Sophomore goalie Kyle Zinter replaced Talaat in the 76th minute and came up with a few crucial saves to preserve the Huskies first shutout of the season.
“We knew that if we came out and played the way we wanted to, we could take care of this team today,” Kilkenny said. “We’ve been unfortunate with injuries so far this year, but it’s nice that we came out and scored a few goals today going into practice this week and our next game.”
The Huskies are without All-Colonial Athletic Association preseason member Alexander Volk, who played in the team’s last game in Providence but was unable to play yesterday.
NU was shutout on the road by the Friars Friday 1-0 despite having multiple scoring opportunities, including four shots from Kilkenny. Talaat recorded eight saves in the losing effort.
Northeastern has the week off before returning to play at Parsons Field Sunday against Columbia at 1 p.m.
