By Jonathan Raymond, News Staff

After taking the regular season Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title and going unbeaten at Parsons Field all season long, the women’s soccer team could not repeat as CAA champions.
The team lost 3-1 to James Madison at Parsons Field Friday in the CAA semifinal.
James Madison defender Teri Maykoski put the Dukes in the first half with a 31st minute strike. Trailing 1-0 to begin the second, Northeastern pulled even early in the half when freshman forward Sandra Magnusdottir connected for her third goal of the season on a pass from sophomore forward Veronica Napoli in the 48th minute.
James Madison pulled away from there, however. Yolie Anderson-Golhor’s header off a well-placed, wind-aided corner kick from Teri Maykoski in the 65th minute put the Dukes up 2-1. Cate Tisinger sealed the deal with an 80th-minute strike after the Huskies went into full-attack mode.
The Huskies outshot JMU 19-13, but had trouble finishing as scoring leader freshman forward Devin Petta, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury Oct. 31 against Delaware, watched the game from the bench.
Head coach Ed Matz said the result was disappointing, but felt his team had played a generally equal game with James Madison. He noted the number of opportunities Northeastern created offensively, and admitted said Petta could have helped in that regard.
‘You like to think that if you have a Devin Petta in there and you’re creating all those chances and giving Devin all those chances, she’s going to get a couple,’ he said. ‘So we certainly could have used a player of Devin’s caliber.’
Matz remained optimistic, however, stressing that his team had a very successful season, winning the CAA regular season despite receiving less funding than the other elite women’s soccer programs in the conference.’
‘We had a great year this year,’ he said. ‘We played some great, consistent soccer all year long. More often than not we stepped on the field and won, but we came up just a little short in the semis.’
‘I can’t take anything away from this year,’ he said. ‘I think with the way we’re funded we overachieved, which many people don’t realize. These girls worked tremendously hard to have this type of season, so my hat’s off to them.’
The Huskies will now face an offseason in which they lose senior captain and forward Liza Rebello but retain the bulk of the rest of the team. After a season in which many of Northeastern’s top players suffered from nagging injuries and lost its star right before the playoffs, Matz noted his young team has a very good chance to be even better next season.
‘This team really hasn’t reached its potential yet,’ he said. ‘We haven’t seen what it’s capable of. What’s big for us is that we continue to mature and we continue to work with the training and sports med staff and get everyone 100 percent healthy coming into preseason. I really don’t think that we’ve seen what this team is capable of doing and that’s a compliment, considering what they’ve done the past two years.’
The motivation heading into next season, he said, will be simple:’ The Huskies will be hungry to get back into the NCAA tournament.
‘We had a great regular season but we wanted to be playing this Friday in the NCAAs,’ he said. ‘So we’re certainly disappointed in not getting back to the NCAAs. Once you get there it’s such a great feeling, that’s all you want to do. So that’ll that will be our motivation all summer long.’
Rebello finished her Northeastern career second all-time in scoring, with 25 goals and eight assists for 58 points.
‘We’re going to miss Liza, she was a great leader and a good goal scorer and a great captain for us,’ Matz said.