College of Charleston
Northeastern
CofC W. Soccer Denied in CAA Debut
9/28/2013 2:05:00 AM | Women's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's soccer team fell short in its Colonial Athletic Association debut with a 3-0 loss to Northeastern at Patriots Point on Friday evening.
CofC (2-8, 0-1 CAA) faces a difficult turnaround with less-than 40 hours and 780 miles separating Friday night's final whistle and kickoff for a noon game at Hofstra on Sunday, Sept. 29 in Long Island, N.Y.
“It's a baptism by fire,” said head coach Christian Michner. “Northeastern is a good team which has struggled a little bit with the non-conference portion but they're a very well-coached team that finished near the top of the league last year so we knew we had our work cut out for us.
“In the first half, they really had the run of play and in the second half we had more quality. The bottom line in this league is you have to be tough enough for 90 minutes to get results.”
The Cougars looked for an early goal after a decisive counterattack by McCallie Jones (Charlotte, N.C.) led to back-to-back corner kicks in the opening five minutes, but both CofC set pieces rattled around in the box but couldn't find the net.
As the match took its shape, Northeastern dictated the pace and much of the first half was played in the Cougars' defensive third.
The defense weathered the attack until the 20th minute when Carina Deandreis kept a ball inbounds after a Huskie cornerkick crossed the goal mouth to the far post. From there, Deandreis dropped the ball back to Mackinzie Dowd who scored on her first touch from the top-left corner of the six-yard box.
They looked to add to the lead with back-to-back shots from threatening spots by Morgan Hilby and Hanna Terry, but a sprawling Taylor Avery (Clifton, Va.) made two dazzling saves to keep the lead at one goal. Avery ended the night with six saves, five of which came in the opening period. Hilby and Terry would both get redemption later in the form of second-half insurance goals.
First-half possession was hard to come by for the Cougars who ended the first half trailing 11-1 in shots.
Michner made the necessary adjustments at halftime and his team reinserted itself into the match in the second half resulting in composed possession and truly-threatening chances in the first moments of the period.
Jones made a brilliant flick from the midfield which sprung Michaela Herrmann (Centenial, Colo.) towards goal in the 50th minute, but NU goalkeeper Paige Burnett barely got a finger to Herrmann's attempt and glanced it wide of the post.
The Cougars looked to have the equalizer on the ensuing corner kick but just as the ball bounced into the netting, the play was whistled offside.
CofC stayed on the attack and the ball stayed in the offensive third, but shots by Sarah Cardamone (Downingtown, Pa.) and Jones were narrowly off the target over the next couple of minutes.
Going against the run of play, NU managed an insurance goal after a corner kick in the 65h minute. After the Cougars temporarily cleared the initial attempt, the ball found its way back to original set-piece taker Hanna Terry whose second ball into the box found the head of Hilby for a goal.
Terry would go on to pick up a goal of her own after Hannah O'Donnell played a slicing through ball down the left side of the pitch to Haley Sinclair who centered it to Terry on her first touch and Terry found herself alone in front of the goal.
“It doesn't get easier,” added Michner. “We start to focus on Hofstra immediately. We really developed our team to be ready for Northeastern and now it's a quick turnaround to be ready for Hofstra. They're a tough team; we're on the road… so we'll fly up to New York and lace up our boots and be ready for another challenge.”
Players Mentioned
