March 6, 2010, 9:28 p.m. – the last game of the 2009-10 Northeastern men's hockey season played on the Matthews Arena ice.
That night, with a playoff spot on the line, the odds looked favorable: A win or any number of other outcomes in Hockey East would secure a playoff berth. Yet in a season when the Hockey East standings shuffled wildly from week to week, everything that could go wrong did. As the out-of-town scores trickled in, the nauseating realization that the season could end that night slowly became a reality. Northeastern finished outside of the final playoff spot, and Boston University gained yet another home ice berth.
After being named the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Field Hockey Rookie of the Year in 2009, expectations were high for Crystal Poland coming into this season and she has not disappointed.
Poland, a sophomore forward/midfielder from Crofton, British Columbia, leads the field hockey team with six goals in the team’s first ten games. Her three goals this past week have earned her Huntington News Player of the Week honors.
The past five games have shown an interesting pattern for the Huskies; they shut their opponents out one game with an abundance of offense and defense, and then the next they are the ones being shutout. This pattern began with the Huskies’ 1-0 win against Boston University Sept. 12, followed by their 2-0 defeat against Providence College Sept. 15.
The Huskies opened Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play on the road with a pair of victories last Friday and Saturday against teams ranked in the top four in the preseason poll. The Huskies improved their record to 11-5 on the season, and 2-0 in conference play.
“It feels great [to be home] especially considering what happened with our one home game,” said head coach Ken Nichols, referring to when the N-Zone came to the game. “The crowd was incredible and the team was able to feed off the energy; it made a very significant, tangible difference. We are excited to see what happens with the next one.”
The women’s soccer team took its first win in Colonial Athletic Conference (CAA) play last Friday with a 1-0 shutout at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Va.
But the Huskies also suffered their first loss in conference play last Sunday when they lost to James Madison University (JMU) 3-1 in Harrisonburg, Va.
Senior forward Nick Lueders and junior midfielder Mike Kennedy contributed one goal apiece in the team’s 2-2 double overtime draw against Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opener Saturday night.
“This is the second game we came out flat, which can’t happen if we want to reach our goal and win the CAA,” senior defender Matt Sanford said. “We were able to fight our way out of two holes this weekend which was an improvement from past games. We didn’t play real well for our first CAA contest, but we were able to fight back and get a point on the road which is always tough.”
Since I’ve been here at Northeastern (I started back in September of 2007), a lot has changed in the Athletics Department. Our fans, in particular are becoming a lot more knowledgeable.
Before I got here, if someone asked me what teams were in the Colonial Athletic Association I would’ve been able to name George Mason, VCU, Old Dominion and maybe, if I got lucky, Delaware.
Now there is an initiative to inform new students of how we do things here at Northeastern. For example, I’m sure most freshmen have walked on campus this fall knowing that they’ll have to stand on a line to get a ticket when Boston University comes to Matthews this year. But if you’ve stopped by the N-Zone table at the activities fair, you’ve been told to start learning who Blaine Taylor is, and why we need to yell “get off the court!” at him during basketball games.
The volleyball team will start its Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) season following the emotional surge of a two game winning streak.
“The last two wins is going to help us with momentum going into the conference,” said Janelle Tucker, freshman outside hitter.
The Huskies participated in the The Seton Hall Invitational from Sept. 17 to 18 and kicked off the weekend against Western Michigan. The Huskies got off to a slow start, but were able to make it close before dropping the first set by a score of 25-22. Northeastern kept the momentum going into the second set building a 12-9 lead. That lead disappeared and the Broncos took the second set 25-20. The third set saw an even bigger lead for Northeastern but again the Huskies were unable to hold on, losing 27-25. The loss dropped the Huskies to 0-4 in tournament openers for the season.
Men’s hockey Head Coach Greg Cronin announced his new recruits for the upcoming season June 3. And while there will still be 10 freshman playing in Matthews Arena this fall, one of them wasn’t listed when the announcement was first made.
That last recruit is Cody Ferriero, a forward from Essex. Ferriero will wear No. 79 this season. After being selected by the San Jose Sharks in the 5th round (127th overall) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, fans are excited for his arrival.
The women’s soccer team notched its second win in a row in its last non-conference game of the season Friday night against the University of New Hampshire.
Senior midfielder Kristen Blake said she credits basic teamwork and a lot of hard work for the team’s win.
“We’ve been here since Aug. 5, so I think we finally just all came together as a team,” Blake said. “We got excited about our first Friday night game and we’ve always had a great rivalry with UNH. It’s always been a tough, tough game, we had to get fired up.”
The men’s soccer team wrapped up non-conference play with a 1-0 loss to the Providence Friars at Parsons Field Tuesday night, a defeat that sends the Huskies to 2-4-0 overall as conference play begins Saturday.
“You can’t come out flat in any game,” Huskies’ head coach Brian Ainscough said. “We didn’t even come out flat- flat would have been an improvement over how we came out. We were going backwards from the get-go. Typically we don’t come out that slow, but that effort in the first half was painful.”
After battling knee injuries for more than a year, Greta Samuelsdottir is finally coming back to her full potential.
The women’s soccer team’s sophomore forward scored three goals in the last two games, netting the game winner in both contests against Lafayette and New Hampshire. Her efforts have earned her Huntington News Player of the Week honors.
The field hockey team returned to Sweeney Field Sunday to defeat William & Mary 6-0, after losing its first conference game to Old Dominion last Friday 2-0. With the victory, the Huskies improved to 5-5 on the season, and 1-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
