The Northeastern University men’s soccer team (3-7-3, 2-3-1 CAA) was unable to place the ball in the back of the net and fell 0-1 Saturday in a tight home game against Monmouth University (6-5-0, 2-4-0 CAA). The loss came despite the Huskies holding possession through the majority of the match.

In Northeastern’s sixth CAA game of the season, the Huskies strove for a victory against the Hawks and continued the fight for one of the six spots left in the conference’s tournament. Monmouth was introduced to the conference at the start of the 2022 season, and winning this game placed them almost head-to-head with Northeastern who is surpassing them by one point. The Huskies would not let Monmouth move up in the ranks without a fight, though, as a win for Northeastern would have allowed the team to place third in the tournament’s rankings.

The match started off fast-paced. Two minutes in, during the Hawks’ first time on the team’s attacking side, Monmouth had a quick breakthrough as sophomore midfielder Jonas Lyshoj crossed the ball into the box, giving his teammates the opportunity to change the game’s score early on. Northeastern graduate student defensemen Ole Kjørholt ruined these plans, heading the ball out of bounds, quickly ending the play.

About 10 minutes into the match, Northeastern began to dominate the game when sophomore midfielder Andres Torrealb made a pass to junior forward Federico Tellez, who missed a shot at the goal. About a minute later, graduate student midfielder Jacob Marin-Thompson received a ball from a cross pass and attempted to head it into the goal, but also ended up missing the shot. 

Shortly after, Marin-Thomson, Tellez, freshman midfielder Sami Baiche and senior forward Timothy Ennin executed a sequence of clean, solid passes, moving up the field. The final pass darted through Monmouth’s defensive line but was too strong for any Northeastern player to catch, ending the opportunity to quickly steal a goal.

The first half of the match was mainly played on the Huskies’ attacking side, with the ball traveling up and down that section of the field as both teams fought to gain possession. During this time, Northeastern had many opportunities to place one in the back of the net but failed to do so.

With eight minutes left in the first half, Monmouth managed a quick breakthrough and moved the ball up after a dynamic sequence of passes. However, the play was shut down by Northeastern junior defender Fabrizio Cubeddu, who blocked a pass, preventing the play from continuing on.

The Huskies lost some momentum at the start of the second half, something the Hawks did not hesitate to take advantage of. Just seven minutes into the half, Monmouth had a brilliant breakthrough where sophomore midfielder Chris Morandi passed to Lyshoj, who was positioned diagonal to him. After receiving the pass, Lyshoj sharply cut the ball, broke Northeastern’s defensive line and scored right outside of the 18-yard box, pushing his team into the lead. 

After the goal, the game shifted completely; the Hawks were full of energy and eagerness while the Huskies showed a lack of drive to continue fighting.

The Huskies’ final on-target shot occurred 12 minutes into the half, when Tellez was given the opportunity to make a goal from a foul kick right outside the 18-yard box. However, freshman Eryk Dymora, Monmouth’s goalkeeper that was subbed in, shut the play down immediately with a quick save.

In a similar manner, about 18 minutes into the second half, Monmouth’s Mirandi struck a shot that rebounded off the goalkeeper, junior Colby Hegarty. After bouncing off Hegarty’s hands, Monmouth’s Christoffer Jensen came barrelling in to try and save the opportunity, to no avail.

29 minutes into the second half, Monmouth’s Lyshoj nailed the ball to the goal once more. Although his kick was powerful and on-target, the forward was blocked by Hegarty with a successful leap.

Similar to the weather that day, the tension between the two sides was heating up quickly, and with 14 minutes until the end of the game, an argument ensued between players over a play that was not counted as a foul. The match overall was an aggressive one, with two yellow cards handed out to the Huskies and disputes occurring between both teams’ players and the referee, as well as among the players themselves. 

With a little over 12 minutes left, the Huskies tried picking up the pace with a fast break to their attacking half. Though junior midfielder Zach Sauer volleyed the ball toward the goal, it flew too far to the right, failing to change the score.

The game ended on the Hawks’ attacking half, the Huskies feeling a wave of urgency to score before the game’s end. Unable to do so, Northeastern fell to Monmouth with a final score of 1-0.

The Huskies will have another chance at securing a spot in the CAA tournament when the team plays the University of Charleston Oct. 15. 

Northeastern will return to Parsons Field Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. and compete against Boston University.