The rainy weather didn’t stop Northeastern field hockey (3–0, 0–0 CAA) from clinching a 4–2 victory against the College of Holy Cross Crusaders (1–3, 0–0 Patriot League) at home Sep. 7. The wet pitch let the ball glide farther in a fast-paced, back-and-forth game, with 15 shots on goal and 10 saves by Northeastern.
Freshman midfielder Jessica Garden, senior forward Emilia Adragna, junior forward Julia Puccio and graduate student midfielder and captain Lilly Smith all scored for the Huskies. Goaltender graduate student Arabella Loveridge made five saves in the first three quarters, and her freshman counterpart, Ibby Welldon, made five in the last quarter.
“I felt like a wet dog,” senior defender Tori Postler said. “It’s always fun to play in the rain, but it was definitely cold.”
Garden brought the energy with a goal in the first minute, setting the tone for the rest of the game.
A weak shot on goal by Holy Cross bounced up and hit one of its players in the waist, giving the team a corner. The shooter scored their first goal almost four minutes into the game.
Less than a minute later, Adragna scored the Huskies’ second goal — and her first of the season — with an assist from graduate student forward Laine Ambrose.
When a Holy Cross pass sent the ball gliding past the sidelines, sophomore defender Camille Armaganian took possession and scooped it across a quarter of the field. A foul by Holy Cross’ defense gave the Huskies their first corner, with senior defense and midfielder Ashley Pappas inserting, but the shot strayed too far right of the goal.
The Huskies and Crusaders each shot seven corners, though none of Northeastern’s corners were successful.
Northeastern managed to keep the ball away from its half for most of the quarter, and Spuehler said Garden did a particularly good job of controlling the midfield.
“She’s very proactive on the attacking side, has a great vision of her teammates, so she makes really good connections,” head coach Pam Spuehler said.
Holy Cross started with the ball in the second quarter, but heavy defense by the Huskies forced them to make messy passes, allowing senior right forward Anna-Kate Domingue to intercept near the 25-yard line.
In this quarter, the ball kept getting stuck on the right side of the field, with Domingue usually having to pass it out while encircled by Holy Cross midfielders.
“She does the hard work on the attacking side but also the defensive side, so she came up with a lot of interceptions and provided a lot of attack opportunities for us,” Spuehler said.
The second quarter was also much more mobile than the first, with time split about evenly across both halves of the field.
Later, a strong pass from senior midfielder Maya Prasad sent the ball down half the field — but Holy Cross stole it and brought it back to the center with quick passes. When the Huskies tried to steal back possession, the crack of opposing sticks banging together got them a foul.
Sophomore defender Phoebe Gough-Cooper made a long pass to Domingue, setting up one of the most exciting moments of the game. Domingue sent the ball flying with an overhead hit toward the right corner, which was empty. Smith sprinted to grab the ball just before it rolled over the back line.
Garden ran the ball to the goal with a defending Crusader pushing hard on her weak side, steering her to the left until she tripped. That earned the Huskies a corner, which Pappas inserted and Garden shot, but it was blocked by the goalkeeper.
Back on the Huskies’ side, Postler tightly defended against Holy Cross’ ball holder, which forced a poorly aimed shot on goal that bounced off the post. Holy Cross shot and missed again shortly after.
The third quarter started with heavier rain and Northeastern in possession. A failed tip and corner early on set a different energy than the first quarter, and the ball traveled up and down the field much more than in the first half. Still, the Huskies scored two goals and successfully defended.
“When we’re attacking forward, we’re making really good connections as a team,” Spuehler said. “It’s nice to see that we’re making [two-on-ones] and eliminating their players well.”
When Northeastern approached the goal around three minutes in, Holy Cross defense clumped up and started a fight for the ball in the circle, which drew the goalie out. Puccio pulled the ball away and ran to the left before the goalie could react, letting her score in a wide-open goal to put the Huskies up 3–1. It was her first point of the season.
Junior center forward Alex Mega ran down the center to shoot, but the goalie slid toward her to block, knocking the ball into the air. Mega ran back to grab it, but fumbled and lost it to the Crusaders.
Smith scored the Huskies’ final goal with about seven minutes left thanks to an assist from Mega, making the score 4–1.
The Holy Cross goalie blocked two shots on goal, a reverse by Garden and a sharp tap by freshman midfielder Hannah Simon, in quick succession. The Crusaders performed an aerial and a series of tight passes to bring it to Northeastern’s goal, but were thwarted by Loveridge throwing herself to the ground to block.
Holy Cross kept the ball on Northeastern’s half, and the teams fought in front of the goal before a tap by sophomore forward and midfielder Ava Sanchez sent the ball out of bounds.
Holy Cross then pulled off a series of aerials to the quarter line — and the alarm sounded.
During the next corner for Northeastern, Puccio inserted, Mega intercepted and passed to Pappas, and Pappas tipped — only to be blocked by the goalkeeper. Freshman defenseman Lucy Walton stole the ball and passed it back to Garden, who swept the ball into the goal to be blocked again.
For the first half of the quarter, the ball mostly stayed on Northeastern’s side of the field. But after the Crusaders took possession, the ball hit Smith, giving it back to the Huskies. Prasad’s powerful reverse hit sent the ball down the field.
Holy Cross shortly earned and failed a corner; slow passes gave the Huskies plenty of time to defend, forcing the shooting Crusader to send the ball too far to the right.
Back at Northeastern’s goal, a Holy Cross attacker carried the ball on her stick to keep it safe from Husky defenders and made a strong, straight hit to the goal — but it was also straight into Loveridge’s shin. In another attempt to score soon after, an attacking Crusader shot the ball upward to the top of the goal, but Loveridge blocked it again.
In an upsetting twist for the Huskies, Holy Cross tipped the ball into the goal with only 42 seconds on the clock. When the ball began again at the midline, Sanchez hit it overhead and over the backline. The ball returned to the midline, and the Huskies returned it over the backline. But the final alarm sounded seconds later, cementing Northeastern’s victory, 4–2.
Both Postler and Spuehler said they were proud of the team’s passes, especially between defense and offense. Spuehler also said the team showed better offense than defense in this game and that she wants to work on not giving up as many penalty corners.
The team is also feeling optimistic about its winning streak.
“It’s a great start. They haven’t been easy wins by any means,” Spuehler said. “Being three and zero is a good thing, but I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves.”
The Huskies take on the University of New Hampshire (0–3, 0–0 AE) at 3 p.m. Sept. 12 at home.
