By Joseph Rubin
Sophomore Jennifer North’s score late in the first half brought Northeastern’s women’s soccer team (6-7-4, 2-2-2 America East) to a 1-0 triumph at conference rival Binghamton (9-5-2, 3-3-1 AE) Sunday.
The Huskies ended a week crucial to their postseason chances undefeated, coming to a 0-0 draw with Boston University on Thursday at Nickerson Field.
With 1:46 left in the first half, North took an assist by freshman Jess Pfeifer, and headed the ball into the goal for the first and only goal of the game.
With both teams fighting to make the playoffs, Northeastern head coach Ed Matz told his players prior to the game that it is “going to be a playoff type of game,” as losing would destroy all hope for the postseason.
NU began the game at a disadvantage with three starting defenders out due to injuries. Binghamton came out strong early in the first period, taking charge of the ball and creating a breakaway with a deep kick to a Bearcat forward. Sophomore Cynthia Slowik made a great block on the play, stopping the opposition from taking an early lead.
According to Matz, the weak start by Northeastern was attributed to a “flat” performance in the game’s initial stages and the different playing conditions, which the coach described as “very muddy and not the type of field the girls were used to playing on.”
The strong performance at the start by the Bearcats was a great challenge for the Husky defense. Slowik made several key saves throughout the game, notching her sixth shutout of the season.
“The second half was pretty evenly played,” commented Matz, praising both teams on their effort and performance. The game ended with the Huskies two games away from making the playoffs.
In the late part of the second half, Liz Dyjak came close on another scoring opportunity, only to hit the far post and be deflected.
The Bearcats out-shot the Huskies 20-14, but were unable to finagle a score.
“We had many chances to score but we just could not finish,” commented Binghamton head coach Jeff Leightman. “There is no excuse for not finishing. We can’t keep having this problem.”
Freshman Meryl Carberry would become the fourth injured Husky when she incurred a head injury with almost twenty minutes left in the first half. She received six stitches for the wound, and was replaced by freshman Megan Vaccaro.
Thursday’s contest at Nickerson Field featured two overtime periods in the 0-0 draw. The Terriers (5-9-2, 2-2-1 America East), last year’s America East Champions, failed to defeat the Huskies for the first time in the past six years.
“It was an intense game,” said Matz, “Boston University is seen as one of the elite teams in the conference.”
Northeastern played hard and held back the Terriers, but lost one of their key defensive players, sophomore Andi Matthews, to a partly torn MCL in the second half. Tara McLarney was moved back from midfield to defense to take her place.
Northeastern almost stole the win in the second half on a sliding cross shot that North narrowly missed, keeping the game tied at 0-0.
Throughout the game both BU goalie Jessica Clinton and NU goalie Slowik would be challenged with shots, Clinton getting four saves and Slowik stopping six.
Matz was disappointed about the tie, but still praised his players for their effort.
“I thought that we played very well tonight,” he said. “[We] put BU back on their heels.”
