On Sept. 17, the Northeastern field hockey team was 5-2 following a 7-1 dismantling of Brown at Sweeney Field. Since then, the Huskies have gone 1-4 to fall to 6-6 (0-2 Colonial Athletic Association). This includes a 4-3 loss at Harvard (4-5, 2-1 Ivy League) last night, despite two goals and an assist from senior forward and co-captain Ashley Bascetta.
The Huskies controlled the ball for most of the game, often finding themselves in the Crimson portion of the field. The Huskies out shot Harvard 22 to 14, forcing Crimson goalkeeper Kylie Stone to make 11 saves.
“We didn’t put the ball in, they did,” said Northeastern head coach Cheryl Murtagh. “We need to work at the other in to put a few more in. I think Harvard put one in on one shot and we had the ball down [Harvard’s] end the whole time. We can’t allow things like that.”
Harvard got on the board first when forward Georgia McGillivray scored her first goal of the season at 13:29 off a penalty corner. She received the pass near the top of the circle and scorched a rocket past senior goalkeeper Colleen Duffy.
Duffy was pulled at 59:56, after allowing four goals on eight shots. Sophomore goalie Samantha Sewell made her collegiate debut, facing no shots in the final 10:04.
Northeastern knotted the game at one when freshman midfielder Kaela Barker took a pass from Bascetta and scored her second goal of the season from the top of the circle.
The game remained tied at halftime.
Harvard ripped off three straight goals from forwards Chloe Keating, Tami Jafar, and Leigh McCoy to start the second half and take a commanding 4-1 lead. McCoy’s goal signaled the end of Duffy’s night.
The Huskies made it interesting as Bascetta notched her fifth and sixth goals of the season in the final 10 minutes. Sophomore back Anne-Reike Stuhlmann notched the assist on both goals, while freshman forward Carolyn Malloy also assisted on the final one.
Murtagh said that Northeastern’s recent slump has seen them become tentative on offense.
“We need to go harder to the goal,” Murtagh said. “[We’re] trying to be too cute. We have deflections by the goal, [and] we need to put them on net.”
The Huskies recent struggles are perplexing to senior co-captain and back Jillian Wilkes.
“I don’t really know what’s wrong,” Wilkes said. “We’re playing some good games, some good hockey and some good ball patterns. I think the key is putting away the game early. We had possession most of the game, especially in the first half. We need to put a team like [Harvard] away early.”
The loss all but assured that Murtagh will get her 300th win away from Boston, as the Huskies play the next three games on the road at Delaware, Towson and Connecticut.
