BROOKLINE — It was all Huskies all afternoon, as Northeastern cruised to their second win in a row with a victory against Campbell on Sunday.
Northeastern was dominant all game in their 4-0 rout, as everything seemed very comfortable for them from start to finish. Senior forward Avery LeVangie opened up the scoring with two goals early in the contest, followed up by goals from two graduate students, Jayden Newkirk and Sofie Fox, just before and after halftime.
Even though the Huskies started the season 0-8-6, Associate Head Coach Alan Goggs was always confident that they could turn their season around.
“We know we have another level, it’s just whether we decide to step up to that level,” said Goggs.
Along with the great attacking performance that was on display, Northeastern has often remained competitive in games this year through their defensive efforts. The center back partnership of graduate students Faith Rosenblatt and the aforementioned goal-scorer Newkirk were rock solid throughout Sunday’s game, leaving goalkeeper Eliza Teplow to have a pretty relaxing day.
Campbell only managed to get off six shots all game, and the Huskies have now kept clean sheets in four of their last five contests.
“Honestly, it’s been their defensive commitment. Not just one or two people, [but everyone] buying into it,” Goggs said. “We were struggling with that at the start, but now numbers 1-31 [on the roster] are buying into that defensive attitude.”
It was an exciting day all around for the Huskies’ program, as fifth-year Jessie Hunt broke Northeastern record for career assists, earning her 26th on LeVangie’s second goal. Hunt displayed nice skill to beat her defender on the left flank, and then laid it off to LeVangie who was able to slot it into the far corner.
Hunt was also involved in Northeastern’s third goal, creating a nice chance for herself and forcing Campbell goalkeeper Sierra Vance to make a great save. The Huskies then scored from the resulting corner kick, with Newkirk heading home a cross from freshman Lughano Nyundo.
The goal was Newkirk’s first for Northeastern, after transferring from Colorado before this season.
After a first half full of goals, the Huskies were able to slow the game down in the second half and control possession. The midfield trio of Hunt, junior Ava Nace, and graduate student Bri Jablonowski looked comfortable as they moved the ball swiftly, helping Northeastern keep control of the game.
Northeastern also had an impact substitution of junior Maggie Cochran, who came on midway through the first half and provided a spark for the rest of the game. Consistently being a threat down the right wing, her breakout moment came in the 52nd minute, as she broke free and put a beautiful cross into Fox, who was able to put it in the back of the net.
However, even in the commanding win, tensions were high between the two sides at the end of the game. Northeastern head coach Ashley Phillips was ejected after getting into an argument with Campbell head coach, Jeff Gross. After receiving a yellow card initially for this dispute, the argument persisted, and one minute later the ref came back and upgraded it to a red.
The Huskies are looking forward to keeping this two-game win streak rolling into their final two games of the season, against Stony Brook and Delaware.
“We’re going to keep going out there to enjoy one game at a time, and keep putting that defensive commitment out there and hopefully get another couple of results,” Goggs said.