Season highlight package
2012 Season Statistics

Highlighted by five All-Conference performers and top-four league finish, the Northeastern women's soccer team concluded its season last month at 9-9-1, with a 7-3-0 mark in CAA league play. The Huskies reached the quarterfinals of the CAA Women's Soccer Championship, falling in a home playoff game by way of penalty kicks to Hofstra on Oct. 28.

Following the completion of the regular season, junior midfielder Hanna Terry (Park City, Utah) was named to the All-CAA first team. Terry scored her first two goals as a Husky in 2012, and dished out a team-high five assists while keying the NU offense all season long. She was joined in conference accolades by senior captain Greta Samuelsdottir (Kopavogur, Iceland), an All-CAA second teamer, who led the squad in scoring with nine goals. Samuelsdottir finished her time on Huntington Ave as the third most prolific scorer in program history, finishing there in all-time goals (27) and points (65).

Joining Terry and Samuelsdottir in postseason accolades were sophomores Paige Burnett (Placentia, Calif.) and Awnalisa Walker (Sugar Land, Texas), both named All-CAA third team. Burnett started every game in net for the Huskies, recording 88 saves and five shutouts, while Walker appeared in all 19 games, starting 18, at the center back position. Freshman Oksana Nicholls (Glendora, Calif.) earned a CAA All-Rookie nod after starting all 19 games and leading the squad in minutes.

The season started off slow for NU, as head coach Tracey Leone elected to take on a highly challenging non-conference slate that saw the Huskies face six 2011 NCAA tournament participants in their first seven games. After dropping Maine, 2-0, in a exhibition, the Huskies opened with then-No. 19 Boston University at Parsons Field, falling 3-0. NU headed to Ohio for a pair of top-level non-conference games next, losing 3-0 at Ohio State and 2-1 at Cincinnati in an overtime affair.

Northeastern got its first win in exciting fashion on Aug. 31, defeating New Hampshire in a 3-2 shootout behind a pair of goals from Samuelsdottir and the first career goal from sophomore Bianca Calderone (Wellesley, Mass.). NU next headed to Boston College for a show down with then-No. 6 Boston College, where the Huskies held the Eagles off the board for the game's first 77 minutes before finally succumbing, 2-0. Burnett made a career-best 12 saves in the loss.

After dropping contests to Dayton and Brown at home, both by way of penalty kick winners, NU closed its non-conference slate with a 2-0 victory over Albany. Junior captain Hillary Savoy (Winchester, Mass.) scored her first career goal in the win, and rookie Shayna Blackwood (Somerville, N.J.) picked up her first points at NU with a pair of assists.

Heading into CAA league play at 2-6, Northeastern was fueled by the battles of the non-conference slate and came out firing in the CAA. After splitting home contests with Georgia State and UNCW to open conference play, the Huskies went to James Madison and shut out the Dukes, 2-0, for their first ever win in Harrisonburg, Va. Redshirt-sophomore Devin Griffin (Whitman, Mass.) scored her first goal in more than two years against the Dukes, after missing most of 2010 and all of 2011 as a medical redshirt and an NCAA exemption. She finished 2012 with a 3-1-7 scoring line in 11 games.

After dropping a 1-0 decision on a late goal to Drexel on Oct. 7, the Huskies rattled off three straight victories, including a 2-0 road win at Delaware and wins over Towson and George Mason to close out the 2012 regular season home slate. In the victories over Towson and Mason, redshirt-sophomore Hannah O'Donnell (Dallas, Texas) scored three goals for the Huskies, leading to CAA Player of the Week honors on Oct. 15.

NU next closed its regular season with a three-game road trip. beginning with a 2-1 loss at eventual regular season league champion William & Mary. The Huskies rebounded with a 2-1 overtime victory over Old Dominion and a win in a 3-2 season-capping thriller at Hofstra. The win over the Lady Monarchs of ODU was the first in program history in Norfolk, Va., and the win over the Pride in Hempstead clinched NU a fourth-place finish in the CAA and the right to host a league quarterfinal matchup.

In the quarters, Northeastern locked horns with Hofstra for the second time in four days. The Huskies and Pride battled through regulation and two extra periods to a 2-2 draw, before Hofstra advanced 3-1 in a penalty kick shootout. The Pride would go on to win the CAA Women's Soccer Championship and represent the league in the NCAA tournament.

The 9-9-1 season kept Leone's Northeastern record at an even 27-27-4. Leone is 116-63-11 overall in three years at NU and six years at Clemson from 1994 to 1999.