BROOKLINE — Death. Taxes. Schmidt. The Northeastern Huskies took down the crosstown Boston University Terriers 2-1 in their home opener at Parsons Field on Friday night thanks to a goal and an assist from sophomore midfielder Will Schmidt.
With both sides fresh off a loss, this non-conference matchup served as a great opportunity to right the ship for both programs. Northeastern came into today 1-1-0, losing 1-0 to Stonehill College despite a 9-1 shots on goal differential. On the other side, the Terriers were bested in their opening match by Central Florida, the reigning Sun Belt Champions, 1-0 and did not record a shot on target.
The match started with a flurry of Northeastern chances, with freshmen Kortay Koç and Tate Duax both looking to strike from distance. BU quickly took control of the game, threatening to draw first blood. Huskies keeper Brady Elmblad was called upon to make several critical saves to keep things scoreless. During a spell of sustained possession, the Terriers’ backline was caught asleep at the wheel and Huskies midfielder Will Schmidt forced a turnover at the edge of the box. Schmidt deftly took his opportunity and fired a shot to the left of the BU keeper to put the Huskies up 1-0 in the 32nd minute.
Scrambling to find an answer before the half, the Terriers won a corner with less than a minute to play. The ball got lost in the blender and Terriers forward Lapo Romieri managed to get a lunging scissor kick off and into the bottom-right corner to level the score at 1-1 with just eight seconds left in the half.
BU looked more likely to take the lead in the second half, with sophomore Austin Mobray and freshman Chinelo Robinson combining on an excellent move that saw Mobray’s cross run across the face of goal without getting put away. The Huskies would make the Terriers pay for the missed opportunity as Schmidt collected the ball in midfield before driving forward and playing Duax through on goal. Duax calmly slid a shot past the keeper into the bottom-left corner to score the match winner in the 78th minute.
Northeastern fiercely defended their lead, with defenders Matty Gardner and Rohin Kapila making key tackles to fizzle the BU attack.
The Huskies improved to 2-1-0 on the season, as young midfielders Schmidt, Koç, and Duax continued to show flashes of great play and promise. Northeastern will look to continue a strong start when they travel to Siena on Monday to take on the Saints.
Sam Riggs is a fifth-year student at Northeastern University who’s been with WRBB since 2024. He primarily covers basketball and soccer.