In a game as close to a must-win as possible, the men’s soccer team fell to America East rival Vermont on Saturday, 3-1.
The one bright spot for the Huskies last week was their 1-0 shutout of visiting UNH on Wednesday, which keeps their slim hopes alive for some sort of home field advantage during the America East playoffs.
Already trailing by a goal in the first half of Saturday’s AE showdown against Vermont, NU senior Oumar Thiam tied the game with a low drive off a feed from fellow senior Atha Kirkopoulos to knot the game at a goal a piece. Thiam’s goal, his second of the season, came with just seven minutes remaining in the half, but was the last time NU got on the scoreboard.
The Cats scored the winning goal just 59 seconds later when Vermont’s Matt Chavez headed a corner kick past NU keeper Sergio Saccoccio for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Vermont would add an insurance goal in the second half to seal the win and improve their overall record to 4-8-4, and 3-3-1 in the America East.
After the loss, the Huskies find themselves at 7-6-3 for the season, while their AE record of 4-3-1 is surprisingly still good enough for second place in the conference.
“We’re all very disappointed that we didn’t come away with the win, but we also know we didn’t play that badly,” said sophomore Jeff Gannon. “We need to focus in practice and work on all the things we need to do to win.”
After a scoreless first half against New Hampshire, both teams needed someone to step up and, luckily for the Dogs, it was their junior co-captain Joe Parrish who put in the game’s only goal in the 54th minute. The goal, a result of an Atha Kirkopoulos free kick, was Parrish’s second winning goal of the season. Northeastern out-shot UNH 10-8 for the match, and Saccoccio made five saves on the way to his fifth shutout of the season.
With just one game remaining in the regular season, the Huskies are currently in second place in the conference. In order for NU to keep that spot for the tournament, however, a number of things, including a win against Albany this Saturday, must go in their favor.
If BU loses just one of their remaining two America East games and NU wins this weekend, the best the Terriers can finish is third. If Binghamton ties one of their two remaining conference opponents, the Huskies would get the edge due to the head-to-head results between the teams. If either or both of these teams win both of their games this week, it will be impossible for the Huskies to hold onto the number two seed in the tournament, regardless of Saturday’s outcome against Albany.
In some sports, home field advantage might not be that big of a deal, but for the Huskies it’s like having an extra attacker with them. The Huskies are undefeated in front of the home crowd this season, with all of their losses coming on the road.
