By Max Lederman

Two games, two clutch overtime goals from sophomore Atha Kirkopoulos, and two nail biting conference victories for the Huskies. Such is life for the men’s soccer team (5-6-2, 2-1-0 America East), who pulled off the two thrillers last week against Hartford, 2-1 and at Stony Brook, 2-1.

“The team always seems to play better in conference games.” said senior captain Nate Houghton. “When the conference games come around, the team gets in gear. All the other games are like preseason games.”

The Huskies didn’t have to wait long to prove their captain’s point. On a rainy Saturday afternoon a true war was waged against America East opponent, the Stony Brook Seawolves (1-11-1).

“The conditions were tough,” said sophomore forward Joe Parrish.

Northeastern coach Ed Matz agreed.

“We just sucked it up, played tough, and came up with the win,” said Matz. “The field was horrible, there really should not have been a game played there on Saturday.”

The Huskies were out-shot in the first half 6-3 by the Seawolves, but thanks to stellar play from freshman keeper Sergio Saccoccio, the game was still knotted at zeroes.

The Seawolves had a golden opportunity to get on the board in the second half, when one of their players was awarded a penalty shot. Saccoccio came up big once again and made a huge save. Ten minutes later, freshman Tom Heimreid scored his first goal of the season to give Northeastern the lead.

But with time winding down in regulation, Seawolves’ freshman Payton Webb narrowly squeezed one by Saccoccio for the tie, and their only goal of the game.

“When you play in conditions so bad, it can really be an equalizer,” Matz said.

But overtime is something the Huskies are getting used to, as three of the Huskies last four matches have gone into overtime.

“Every game we’ve played, could have gone the other way,” Matz said.

Wednesday’s savior struck again in the 94th minute, as Kirkopoulos scored on a free kick from 30 yards out for his second overtime goal of the week. So the Northeastern Huskies go into Wednesday’s game at Maine, where the weather conditions will most certainly not be pleasant, looking to improve upon their records in the standings.

In their game Wednesday against Hartford (4-7-0), the Huskies got on the board first with a goal from junior forward Bennie Prueske, only to have Hartford’s Alon Lubezky tie the game up a few minutes later. Fast-forward to the 93rd minute in overtime, when Kirkopoulos got his first overtime goal of the week off a nice set up by Nate Houghton.

“We were flying on our home turf, we just out played [Hartford],” Houghton said of the home win. The victory on Wednesday against Hartford ended Northeastern’s three-game losing streak and was a big win against an America East rival.

If last week was any indication, the upcoming games promise to be exciting.