By Alana Pelosi
The women’s soccer team bounced back in a big back way after defeating Old Dominion 4-2 Tuesday in the opening round of the CAA tournament. Similar to last Thursday’s game, the fate of the game was determined in overtime. This time, it was in the Pride’s favor.
Hofstra went into Thursday’s night’s game looking to remain undefeated at home; Northeastern went into the looking to win. After a 0-0 tie at halftime, the Pride started off the second half with an early goal from Leurini. Ultimately, it was the Huskies desire to earn the final berth in the CAA tournament that propelled them to a victory. As the clocked ticked down, Northeastern tied things up and went on to score an additional goal in overtime for the 2-1 victory. “They wanted to win,” said Pride head coach, Simon Riddiough. “We thought we had it in the bag and we didn’t. I’m embarrassed to be honest.”
The embarrassment was short lived. Despite two straight losses to CAA opponents, Riddiough was determined to keep things simple. “You cannot make decisions on one 90 minute performance. Chances are we are going to keep things the same with possible a few lineup changes.” He said.
True to his word, Riddiough kept the starting lineup relatively unchanged. In Tuesday’s matchup things looked bad for the Pride when Old Dominion started the game off with two early goals. As halftime approached, it seemed as though the familiar lineup was headed toward a familiar fate, but all that changed with under three minutes to halftime. After senior Carol Leurini was fouled, defender Jess Crankshaw knocked a penalty kick over the goalkeeper’s head to make things 2-1. The Pride stayed on track when early in the second half freshman midfielder Courtney Breen tied when she headed in a corner kick from by Marie Curtin.
The score remained 2-2 through double over time, and came down to penalty kicks. While the Pride won the game 4-2, it is officially a tie and the two penalty kicks do not count towards the players tally.
The next hurdle will take place on Friday when the team heads to Williamsburg to face first seeded William and Mary. In the last match up between the two teams things were not pretty for the Pride. True to form, the game went into overtime and ultimately the Pride suffered their first CAA loss of the second with a 1-0 loss. This time, the stakes are much higher. If the Pride can pull off a win despite being 0-4 all-time in Williamsburg, they will advance to CAA tournament finals on Saturday and earn the chance to try and defend their CAA title.