By Max Lederman
After suffering only their second America East loss of the season to Albany (9-5-2, 4-1-2) on Wednesday, the Huskies (9-7-2, 6-2-0) thrashed the Binghamton Bearcats (6-11-1, 2-6-0) Sunday 5-0, for the sixth win in their past seven games.
“We really rebounded well and came out very sharp after the loss to Albany on Wednesday,” said head coach Ed Matz.
The win, accompanied by a Vermont loss, gives the men’s soccer team a number one seed in the America East playoffs, and the team’s fourth straight playoff birth.
The Huskies seemed determined to take all of their frustrations out on the defenseless Bearcats. Senior captain Nate Houghton, playing his last regular season game at Parsons field, put Northeastern on the board first with a header off an Atha Kirkopoulos cross, 19 minutes into the game. Houghton was not done however. He squeaked one by Binghamton goalie Matt Nolan just four minutes later on a feed from junior Oumar Thiam, giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead. The goal was Houghton’s sixth of the season and 16th of his career.
“Nate can really carry our team sometimes,” added Matz.
Freshman Jay Betley tallied his first career goal on a drop pass from Kirkopoulos, giving Kirkopoulos his second assist and Northeastern a 3-0 lead. Junior Julian Daniels also scored his first career goal as a collegian mere minutes later, giving Northeastern a 4-0 lead going into the half.
Kirkopoulos would tally his third assist after the break feeding Jay Betley for his second goal of the game, boosting the Huskies to the 5-0 victory.
Wednesday’s game against Albany was a close battle, and a hard loss to swallow. Goals from Tom Heimreid and Atha Kirkopoulos were not enough to keep the Huskies five-game win streak alive. The Great Danes scored two goals in the second half to finish off NU.
Atha Kirkopoulos led the team with 22 points in the regular season, with seven goals. “Atha has been really great for us this year, and he deserves a lot of credit,” said Matz.
Nate Houghton and Michael Cipriano tied for second on the team with 14 points apiece. Overall, the Huskies scored 35 goals this season and allowed just 21. The Huskies made 15 percent of their shots while their opponents netted only 11 percent. The Huskies begin their playoff run at 6 p.m. Saturday at Parsons Field against New Hampshire, one of only two conference teams to beat them this year.
“Almost every game we played this year has been pretty close, so we are [going to] have to really fight in the playoffs,” added Houghton.
The Huskies are 6-1-2 this year at home, and hope to carry that success into Saturday’s contest.
