Box Score Junior Ahmed Talaat scored his fourth goal of the season in the 67th minute to lift the men's soccer team (6-9-2, 4-4-1 CAA) past Delaware (5-7-2, 3-6-0 CAA), 1-0, for its season-high fourth straight win on Friday night at Parsons Field. Junior striker Greg Kilkenny snuck a lead pass behind the Delaware defense to Talaat, who beat the Blue Hens' goalie for the game-winner. Freshman keeper Mahmoud Talaat made three saves to extend his shutout streak to 253:19. NU has not allowed a goal in 276:15.
Greg Kilkenny, who has opened scoring in four of the previous five games, had a golden opportunity eight minutes into Friday's contest. The junior striker deked around a defender and went in one-on-one with Delaware sophomore keeper Jonathan Curry-Edwards but failed to get a shot off. He appeared to have lost his footing on the wet grass.
Kilkenny got another chance at 13:20, as he streaked down the right side of the field defended by senior co-captain Matt Haney. Kilkenny got past Haney but was unable to spin around freshman defender Greg Delva, who stole the ball and cleared it out.
Moments later, Kilkenny was awarded a free kick from 28 yards out but he shot the ball wide left. The Huskies' got a scare the following play, as Kilkenny went down and came out of the game. NU played a man down for about thirty seconds before Kilkenny returned to the field, appearing to be fine.
The Blue Hens got their first good scoring opportunity with just under five minutes to play in the half. Freshman keeper Mahmoud Talaat, who was named CAA Rookie of the Week for the week ending Oct. 15, grabbed what appeared to be a harmless deep kick out of the air, but he bobbled the ball and was somehow able to reach back for it before an incoming Delaware player was able to capitalize with an empty net.
As he did in the opening half, Kilkenny came out in the second frame with the Huskies' first scoring chance. At 50:20, his shot from just inside the box was stopped by Curry-Edwards and the keeper mishandled the ball but nobody was there for NU.
The Blue Hens came right back twenty seconds later, as sophomore Matt Laudeman ran around the top of the box to the right past a few NU defenders and fired a shot back to the left. Talaat dove and stopped the initial shot but the rebound went to the Blue Hens leading-scorer scorer, junior Sobhan Tadjalli. Before Tadjalli could get the shot off, NU defenders collapsed on him and blocked his kick.
In the 67th minute, Kilkenny ran down the field and threaded a perfect lead pass behind the Delaware defense to junior Ahmed Talaat, who beat Curry-Edwards low to the right just under the keeper's outstretched arm for his fourth goal of the season.
Talaat's tally would prove to be the game-winner, as the Blue Hens mounted one last offensive with 12 minutes to play but failed to find the back of the net. Senior Anthony Talarico beat his defender out of the corner and tried to sneak the ball past Talaat on the short side, but Talaat got a piece of the ball and cleared it out of harm's way.
Kilkenny nearly gave the Huskies a two-goal cushion with 5:15 to play, as he stole the ball from Delva inside the box and drilled a shot at Curry-Edwards. The keeper stood square to Kilkenny and knocked down the bid to keep the Blue Hens within striking distance. However, Delaware was unable to threaten again and the Huskies escaped with their season-high fourth straight win.
Mahmoud Talaat made three saves in the game and extended his shutout streak to 253:19 in the process. Curry-Edwards matched Talaat with three stops in the contest.
Northeastern outshot Delaware 9-8 and 4-3 in shots on goal. Each team took four corner kicks.
Northeastern has won four straight games with the last three victories all coming at Parsons Field. In playoff position for the first time this season, the Huskies will look to match their recent success on the road, as they travel to Drexel on Sunday for another very important conference contest. NU currently holds a 7-5-2 advantage in the all-time series with Drexel. The two teams played to a 1-1 tie last year at Parsons Field.
Delaware (5-7-2) vs. Goals by period 1 2 Tot
Northeastern (6-9-2) -------------------------------
Date: Oct 20, 2006 Attendance: 113 Delaware............ 0 0 - 0
Weather: rain Northeastern........ 0 1 - 1
Delaware Northeastern
Pos # Player Sh SOG G A Pos # Player Sh SOG G A
------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------
G 0 Curry-Edwards, J.... - - - - G 1 Talaat, Mahmoud..... - - - -
3 Talarico, Anthony... 1 1 - - 4 Batista, Jonathan... - - - -
6 Pezza, Anthony...... - - - - 8 Brack, Daryl........ 1 - - -
11 Danaher, Paul....... 1 - - - 9 Talaat, Ahmed....... 2 2 1 -
12 Laudeman, Matt...... 1 1 - - 10 Tangney, Padraig.... - - - -
14 Tadjalli, Sobhan.... 2 - - - 11 Kilkenny, Greg...... 4 2 - 1
15 Shadoff, Eric....... - - - - 14 Ennis, Brendan...... - - - -
17 Molinaro, Anthony... - - - - 17 Okland, Lars........ - - - -
19 Paugh, Bill......... 1 - - - 18 Laning, Matthew..... - - - -
23 Delva, Greg......... 1 - - - 20 Volk, Alexander..... 2 - - -
25 Haney, Matt......... - - - - 22 Koslosky, Brian..... - - - -
---------- Substitutes ---------- ---------- Substitutes ----------
2 Williams, Cody...... - - - - 2 Nasman, Kyle........ - - - -
5 Zoellner, Michael... - - - - 6 Peterson, Neal...... - - - -
9 Bratus, Michael..... 1 1 - - 15 Patrikis, Nicholas.. - - - -
10 Blau, Tal........... - - - - Totals.............. 9 4 1 1
Totals.............. 8 3 0 0
Delaware Northeastern
# Player MIN GA Saves # Player MIN GA Saves
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
0 Curry-Edwards, J.... 90:00 1 3 1 Talaat, Mahmoud..... 90:00 0 3
Shots by period 1 2 Tot Saves by period 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Delaware............ 2 6 - 8 Delaware............ 1 2 - 3
Northeastern........ 3 6 - 9 Northeastern........ 0 3 - 3
Corner kicks 1 2 Tot Fouls 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Delaware............ 3 1 - 4 Delaware............ 7 7 - 14
Northeastern........ 1 3 - 4 Northeastern........ 4 6 - 10
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team Goal Scorer Assists Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 66:13 NU Talaat, Ahmed Kilkenny, Greg
CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS:
YC-UDEL #6 (21:39)
Officials: Referee: Ed Shay; Asst. Referee: Michael Fort; Ed Martins; Scorer: Ricky Popolizio;
Offsides: Delaware 2, Northeastern 2.
