By Jason Kornwitz
After a promising (and at times dominant) performance en route to a 4-1 record to begin the season, a loss and a tie could weaken the confidence of a club headed into its conference schedule.
Especially since the Huskies only managed six wins throughout last season and even more so because it came away victorious in just three Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) contests.
But despite a 2-0 setback against No. 11 ranked Penn State (4-2-2) Sunday at the Harvard Tournament in Cambridge and a 1-1 tie to St. Mary’s (1-5-1) on Friday in Cambridge, coach Ed Matz said he remains optimistic.
“I’m very excited about getting into the second part of our season,” Matz said. “We have a lot of things to be excited about. Our defense is playing well, our midfield is playing well, our strikers are playing well. We proved a lot to ourselves. We can definitely go out and play with one of the best programs in the country.”
Northeastern matched Penn State in the first half, accumulating four shots on goal to their opponents’ five. But a goal 13 minutes in on a cross from defender Allie Long to midfielder Sarah Dwyer was all the Lions needed.
“The first half was very evenly played,” Matz said. “And we came out in the second half … and we had some chances. [Penn State is] the type of team you can’t make mistakes against. And we made a couple of mistakes. To be honest, I’m happy with the result.”
Out shot 15 to four in the second half, NU fell behind 2-0 during the 69th minute off a header from defender Denay Riley.
But NU had its chances. Redshirt freshman forward Liza Rebello hit the post and with just three seconds to go, sophomore forward Jenna Lucchesi dinged the crossbar.
“I think we’re creating more scoring chances, and scoring chances are coming from a variety of people,” Matz said. “I was very proud that we didn’t give up. We’re still trying to score [at the very end of the game] and we didn’t hang our heads.”
Perhaps exhausted from Friday’s double overtime tie with St. Mary’s, the Huskies committed 18 fouls to the Lions’ eight.
“I think it was just us playing with a lot of determination
