By Sarah Metcalf
After a season full of promise for good things to come in the America East tournament, the fifth-seeded Northeastern women’s soccer team suffered a season-ending loss to host New Hampshire Tuesday, 7-2, in the first round of the playoffs.
UNH flew out to a 5-0 lead, scoring all five goals in a span of seven minutes. The Huskies rallied, with sophomore Jess Pfeifer and freshman Siobhan Howard scoring to bring NU to within three. Then New Hampshire’s Jackie Wishoski scored her record-setting fourth and fifth goals of the game, bringing the final score to 7-2 and swiftly ending the Huskies’ season.
“It’s very disappointing that our season ended with such a lopsided loss,” coach Ed Matz said. “I’m surprised at the outcome; statistically the game was even. It’s just that they scored so many goals so quickly. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like that.”
On Thursday, the Huskies took on cross-town conference rival Boston University, in what was undoubtedly one of the most, if not the most important game of the regular season. In an intense, double-overtime game the Huskies lost 1-0 to a tough Terrier team.
BU senior Emily Dionne scored the game winner in the 107th minute of play, with three minutes left until the game would have been called a draw. The heartbreaker came off a corner kick from sophomore Meghan Cook, which Dionne floated over Northeastern goalkeeper Cynthia Slowik.
The Terriers came out fired up and drew first blood, with BU sophomore Brooke Binghamton sending a rocket by Slowik at 9:56 to give them the early lead.
After the goal, the Huskies came alive and began to pressure the BU defense much more consistently than before. In the 41st minute, junior co-captain Liz Dyjak was taken out in the box, and converted the resulting penalty kick, placing it neatly into the bottom left corner past BU goalkeeper Jessica Clinton, sending the teams into half-time with a 1-1 tie.
Near the end of the second overtime, NU began to look tired, and the Terriers took advantage by pressuring the Huskies’ defense, resulting in the corner kick that ended the game.
“Overall, it was a very good season,” Matz said. “We had very good results for a young team without any seniors. I think the BU game took a lot of steam out of us. The two losses to end the season are unfortunate, but it was a good season. The girls worked really hard all season. People might look at the score of the [UNH] game and think that was the way we played all season, but it wasn’t that way. It’s unfortunate, but we did have a good season.”
The Huskies finish out their season at 11-8-0 overall, and 5-4 in the America East League.
