By Andrew Parente
The men’s soccer team opened the home portion of its Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) schedule with two wins this weekend over UNC Wilmington and Georgia State.
Friday night, the Huskies opened the scoring early against UNC Wilmington en route to a 3-1 win.
In the game’s seventh minute, senior forward Ahmed Talaat broke in behind the defense and fired a shot that hit the post. Senior forward Greg Kilkenny found the rebound and put it past Seahawk goalkeeper Brock Duckworth, giving NU a 1-0 lead.
The Seahawks responded 13 minutes later when freshman midfielder Daniel Roberts was awarded a free kick and found fellow freshman Nassim Berhouni, who found the net to tie the game at one.
The game was all set to remain tied going into half-time until the Huskies added another goal with less than two minutes remaining in the half. Kilkenny took the initial shot from just inside the 18-yard box and the rebound went right to junior forward Lewis Uhrlich. He then beat Duckworth for his second goal of the year giving the Huskies a 2-1 lead going into the half.
The second half played too much of a back and forth pace with both defenses stepping up and clearing away most of the scoring chances.
In the last minute of play, the Seahawks tried desperately to tie the game by sending Duckworth up the field to provide more offense. The move backfired and sophomore midfielder Alexander Volk was able to take a shot into the empty net for his first of the year, sealing the 3-1 win for NU.
Sophomore goalie Scott Partridge started the game for the Huskies and recorded five saves.
“We need to win the games we’re suppose to, and that’s what we did tonight,” said head coach Brian Ainscough. “A win tonight and a win against Georgia State on Sunday and we’ll be right back in this league.”
The Huskies were able to accomplish just that Sunday, as they shut out the Panthers by a score of 2-0.
Northeastern dominated the first half and out shot Georgia State 13-1. However, they were only able to put one ball past Panther goalie Filipe Carvalho.
In the 29th minute, Kilkenny received a throw-in from freshman midfielder Santiago Bedoya and sent in a cross to Ehrlich, who beat Carvalho for his second goal in as many games.
The assist was the seventh of the year for Kilkenny, who leads the CAA.
The Huskies again controlled the shots on goal category in the second half, out shooting the Panthers 14-3.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of NU until the game’s 69th minute. Ehrlich and Talaat stormed down the field with only one defender to beat. Ehrlich was able to slip the ball behind the defender, and Talaat then beat Carvalho for his team leading fifth goal of the year.
Talaat’s brother, sophomore keeper Mahmoud Talaat, got the start in net for the Huskies and made three saves to earn the win.
“If we can win our home games and pick up some points on the road, we will have an extra weekend of soccer,” Ainscough said. “Ultimately, that’s our goal.”
The Huskies, who have yet to win an away game this season (0-6), will hit the road for three straight games starting Friday at Virginia Commonwealth at 7 p.m. They face James Madison Sunday at 1 p.m.
Northeastern is currently 4-5 when playing at Parsons Field, and will return home Oct. 28, after a game Friday at Delaware at 7 p.m. They will welcome Drexel to Parsons Field at 1 p.m.
In its remaining seven games, Northeastern faces only conference opponents before potentially heading into the post season.
