Box Score Box score

The Northeastern men's soccer team won its third game of the season as they defeated Delaware, 3-1.

The Huskies came out blazing in the first half outshooting the Blue Hens 14-5.

From the beginning the Huskies were able to push the ball up the field with precision passing, which gave Huskies attackers good looks on net with Mike Kennedy (6), Laurence Braude (4) and Ricardo McDonald (3) leading the team in shots.

In the game's 12th minute freshman Dante Marini was tripped in the box as he attacked the ball, leading to a penalty kick for the Huskies. Sophomore Mike Kennedy took the penalty kick, and although his initial shot was saved he was able to get the rebound and kick the ball passed Delaware's keeper.

The Huskies would look to add to their lead as they didn't let up the pressure, and in the game's 22nd minute Ryan Burnham led Santiago Bedoya with a perfect pass up the sideline, leading to a Bedoya cross to the far side of the net where Kennedy waited to head the ball for his second goal of the contest.

With the Huskies lead at 2-0 they looked to finish the half strong.

Rallying behind sophomore keeper Oliver Blum the Huskies were able to shutout the Blue Hens in the first half. In the 25th minute Blum made a spectacular diving save to his right as he prevented Delaware's forward, who was left all alone, from scoring on what looked like a sure goal.

“I thought we did enough in the first half. We went in to the locker room up 2-0 and feeling good, but we knew with the bad weather we had to capitalize on our chances,” said head coach Brian Ainscough.

Coming out in the second half the Huskies maintained their offensive firepower, until when in the 70th minute Delaware's Kyle Ellis was able to score on a shot from the top of the box after finding the ball off a deflection.

For the next ten minutes the Huskies found themselves trying to keep Delaware off of the ball, as the Huskies focused on clearing the ball from the zone, rather than opening up scoring chances for the offense.

Freshman Ricardo McDonald put the game out of reach in the game's 83rd minute when he was able to get free on a deflected Dante Marini lead pass, that resulted in McDonald being left alone with Delaware's keeper and putting a chip shot passed him.

The Huskies defense was stellar on the day with Ryan Burnham, Top Phataraprasit, Nikko Lara, Santiago Bedoya, Matt Sanford and Brendan Ennis leading the effort in limiting Delaware's scoring chances. They were able to clear the ball and beat opposing attackers to the ball, which led to Huskies scoring opportunities.

The Huskies next match will be Sunday when they travel south to face Georgia State for a 3 p.m. start.

“Overall our team has high expectations, but getting out of here with a win was most important. We hope to match last years conference success as we continue with our schedule,” said Ainscough.