By Max Lederman
BROOKLINE – The usual suspects were up to it again. The Northeastern men’s soccer team (10-7-2, 6-2-0) defeated New Hampshire (10-5-2, 4-2-2) in the America East Championship semifinals, 3-1 in front of a packed crowd Saturday night.
Senior captain Nate Houghton scored two more goals, giving him four in his past two contests. America East Offensive Player of the Year Atha Kirkopoulos scored as well, leading the Huskies to their seventh win in their last eight games.
Houghton wasted no time getting down to business, as he scored his first goal just three minutes into the first half. The lead didn’t last long; New Hampshire’s Logan Lee scored his 10th goal of the season to tie the game up one minute later. The teams remained tied for the remainder of the half.
Both teams looked sharp, sharing sufficient time at each other’s end of the field. Northeastern goalie and America East Rookie of the Year Sergio Saccoccio came up huge with seven saves. His counterpart, Wildcats goalie Mike Vignola, had only three.
“The whole team played great today, we weren’t even thinking about revenge. We want to go to the big show,” said Houghton. The Wildcats are one of two conference teams to have defeated the Huskies this year.
The Huskies took over the game in the second half.
Atha Kirkopoulos scored in the 60th minute to break the 1-1 tie, building momentum for the home team.
“Atha played, well, like the conference player of the year,” said sophomore Joe Parrish. “Everybody had a good game tonight.”
Houghton got on the board for the second time two minutes later, landing the final blow to UNH, giving the Huskies a 3-1 lead.
“The first goal I was in the right place at the right time, and the second was just luck,” said Houghton.
“It’s the story of our year, a total team effort, everyone played well and contributed,” said head coach Ed Matz.
A sense of exuberant control vibrated throughout the Husky lineup all evening. All the players performed with a sense of urgency, and attacked the ball better than they had all season.
“We wanted it and we came out and took it,” added Houghton.
With the win Saturday, the Huskies advance to the America East title game against Vermont (10-6-2, 5-2-1) in what figures to be a great contest. The afternoon affair, scheduled for 1 at Parsons Field, puts America East Defensive Player of the Year Keli Helgason against the America East Offensive Player of the Year Kirkopoulos.
The Huskies are 7-1-1 this year at Parsons Field and Vermont is 3-4-1 on the road this season. These teams faced off in one of the most exciting games of the season on Oct. 19, where the Huskies stormed back from a two-goal deficit to defeat Vermont 4-3 in overtime.
