By Jon Litchfield
The women’s soccer team was blanked by Dartmouth 5-0 on Monday at Singer Park in Manchester, N.H., to give the Huskies a 1-1 split for the week. Northeastern (5-7-3, 1-2-1 America East) topped conference rival Maine 2-1 with an overtime goal by Jennifer North on Thursday at Parsons Field.
Nationally-ranked Dartmouth (9-3-1) scored two goals in the first 10 minutes of Monday’s game to obtain the lead, and never gave the Huskies a chance to get back in the game. The Big Green’s Mary McVeigh was the catalyst, assisting on the first two goals and scoring one of her own in the second half.
“It wasn’t a matter of us playing poorly,” said Northeastern head coach Ed Matz. “They were just a tough squad.”
Dartmouth’s Devon Haskell scored the first goal of the game, just 2:30 into regulation, assisted by McVeigh. The Green’s Katherine Kannenberg scored the second goal at 9:08, giving Dartmouth a 2-0 lead entering the half.
McVeigh scored unassisted in the 49th minute of play to make the score 3-0. Dartmouth’s Lea Kiefer and Kathryne Carr added insurance goals at 65:28 and 75:00 to put the game out of reach for the Huskies.
After making six saves and allowing all five goals, NU goalkeeper Cynthia Slowik was lifted for Jeannette Tremblay, who made three saves to finish out the game.
Despite losing, Matz was able to take some positives away from the game.
“I was impressed with the play of Liz Dyjak, Fellipa Petruccelli and Jenn North,” he said. “Liz and Fellipa being midfielders, they were able to control their areas of the field and Jenn North was able to create some scoring opportunities for herself.”
Matz said that the game would help prepare for future contests and exposed weaknesses that NU could work on, including the Huskies’ quickness on restarts and defensive faults.
“Dartmouth was a final-16 team last year. We missed some of our opportunities and they didn’t miss any of theirs,” he said.
On Thursday, North’s overtime goal secured a 2-1 victory for the Huskies over conference adversary Maine (4-7-1, 0-3-1) at Parsons Field. The win broke a four-game skid in which Northeastern didn’t score a single goal and moved the Huskies into eighth place in the America East standings.
“It was a great win and we really needed it. Our backs were really up against the wall,” Matz said after the game. “I told the girls going into overtime, it’s extra minutes and the team that wants it more usually gets it here.”
North, who called her goal “a relief,” agreed.
“We hadn’t won or scored in four games so to get two goals and win was huge. It could be the turnaround of the season if we keep this up.
“Last year we lost to Maine with 20 seconds left and I think there was still some fire left from that,” she said.
With less than two minutes remaining in overtime, North took the ball through two Maine defenders and beat Maine goaltender Naomi Welsh to find the open net.
Matz said of the play, “It was a footrace for about 30 yards, she beat the goalkeeper and beat the two defenders. She showed a lot of heart and got the goal.”
The Huskies had many chances during the game but couldn’t take the lead until the game-winner was scored.
Maine scoring threats were snuffed out by the NU defense, led by sophomore defender Jessica Olds and Slowik, and the game was scoreless entering halftime.
“I thought we came out real flat to start and we really gave NU three to four golden chances,” said Maine head coach Scott Atherly. “We could have been down three or four nothing going into the half.”
Maine burst out of the gate in the second half, needing only two minutes to make the score 1-0. Maine’s Heather Hathorn knocked the ball past and outstretched Slowik on an assist from Annie Hamel.
“We made some changes and I thought we dominated the second half,” Atherly said. “With that second goal, I thought our player was onsides but that’s not my call to make.”
After the teams traded possession numerous times, sophomore defender Andi Matthews netted the first goal of her career and made the score 1-1. She took the shot from a corner kick and found the goal at 55:17, ending a Northeastern scoreless drought that spanned nearly 500 minutes of play.
Yellow cards were given to three Maine players and one NU competitor in the second period.
“It was a very physical game, which we knew coming in,” said Matz. He credited the referees on their performance, though he looked bewildered at several of the calls.
