Despite a less-than-stellar 4-11-3 season, the women’s soccer team has reason to believe it can greatly improve next time around: the team will welcome a 12-player incoming recruiting class that was recently ranked as the second best in the Colonial Athletic Association by soccerbuzz.com.
The class, which was one of just two in the conference to be ranked in the top 100 nationally, features two defenders, four midfielders, four forwards and two keepers. Soccerbuzz.com called the group “unique due to its depth and range of possible contributors.”
“I think [the ranking] is certainly huge for us considering we have the least amount of financial resources in the conference,” said head coach Ed Matz, referring to the impact lack of money makes on scholarships. “For us to beat schools that are a lot better funded than us is a huge indication of how hard we worked. We’re happy – we’re proud of what we did.”
The recruits consist of midfielders Heather Carpenter, Gabby Jatkola, Kelly Jones and Erin McGaffigan; forwards Annika Hogberg, Laura Holmstedt, Veronica Napoli and Stefanie Railoa; defenders Kelly Matthews (the sister of current captain Brenna and 2004 captain Andi) and Melanie Thompson; and keepers Stephanie Gordon and Michelle Sopko.
Matz said he expected the class to help improve an offense that suffered through a plethora of injuries last season en route to scoring just nine goals, four of which came in a single game against Delaware. The influx of talent, plus a return to health, he said, would help fix their offensive woes.
“I think we are going to be really dynamic on offense,” he said. “We’re going to have a lot of different weapons that can score goals for us. And we’re returning most of our defense, so I think recruiting-wise, we really improved our offense.”
Chief among the new contributors, Matz said, should be forwards Hogberg and Napoli. Hogberg is a transfer from Flagler College where she was named player of the year after her premiere season, in which she scored 18 goals and six assists. Napoli comes to the Huskies by way of Newport, R.I. At her high school, The Prout School, she amassed 128 career goals and 50 career assists to become the all-time leading scorer.
Napoli said she chose Northeastern over Boston College, North Carolina State and UNC-Wilmington, among others because of its location.
“[Northeastern] is close to home and I love Boston and everything. I thought it was a good school,” she said. “I’m really excited to experience everything.”
Gordon, who participated in the Massachusetts State Olympic Development program from 2005-07 and was a Patriot League All-Star as a keeper from 2004-07 at Rockland High, said she hopes to bring leadership and strong communication as a goalkeeper to the team. She said she chose Northeastern over Boston University, Stonybrook and Long Island University.
“When I was narrowing down my choices, I decided I wanted to go to a school in the city, and Northeastern has an awesome academic program. It’s an awesome school,” she said.
Even with a deep and talented class, and a strong stable of returning players, Matz said he thinks any of the new recruits could come in and immediately make an impact.
“There’s a lot of kids that have a chance, and I could go down the whole list – I could go down the whole recruiting class,” he said. “I think there’s several kids that could come in and contribute immediately. I think there’s several kids that could come in and start.”
