Northeastern (0-2-2, 0-1 CAA) fell to the Campbell Camels (4-0-1, 1-0 CAA) Saturday afternoon in their first league game of the season. This is the second time the Huskies took on the Camels in program history, repeating their 0-1 loss last year.
The first half was tense on both sides of Carter Field, with 13 fouls tallied among the two teams. Camels’ freshman forward Luc Lavielle and Huskies’ sophomore defender Mathias Hille received yellow cards in the opening half at the 24th and 39th minute, respectively.
The Camels notched the only point of the game in the 37th minute by junior defender Téva Lossec – his first of the season after being the third-top scorer for the Camels last year. On a turnover, sophomore forward Marco Wright brought the ball up the field, drawing in three of Northeastern’s defenders. He accurately passed it to Lossec on his right, forcing Northeastern’s defense to drop back into the box — but they couldn’t get there in time. Lossec nailed the ball into the bottom right of the goal, just past senior goalkeeper Tobias Jahn.
Northeastern struggled to get past Campbell’s defense — who transitioned smoothly on almost every turnover — preventing the Huskies from getting good looks on goal and allowing the Camels to outshoot the home team eight to two in the opening half. This seemed to be a consistent weakness for the Huskies, scoring only twice in their last three games.
But the Huskies still came out with a fight, dominating possession in the second half.
Northeastern was able to get most success when switching the field. This led to many crosses and shots, which all ended wide. The passes and connections to each other were smoother in the second half, and the players had quicker reactions when it came to decisions about ball movement.
Despite gaining more momentum, minor mistakes were costly for the Huskies, including taking too long to move the ball and sloppy passes between teammates. Campbell took advantage of this, as they fired off eight more shots — but the Huskies kept them out of the net.
Northeastern snapped out of its daze with a yellow card on senior forward Sebastian Restrepo. This woke up the Huskies as they then were able to keep their composure as they tried to secure the equalizer.
Senior forward Griffin Polinsky had their final attempt of the game with a header to the net from a corner kick — but it was unsuccessful.
Northeastern had seven shots with only two goals — the rest sent wide or above the net. Failing to secure the tie, the team added another loss to their record this season.
The Huskies take on Merrimack (1-0-3) at home Tuesday at 6 p.m.
