University of Delaware Athletics
University of Delaware
Northeastern
Delaware Battles CAA Leader Northeastern to a 2-2 Draw
10/24/2014 10:04:00 PM | Women's Soccer
BOSTON, Mass. – The University of Delaware women's soccer team tied first-place Northeastern 2-2 Friday in a Colonial Athletic Association game.
The Blue Hens (7-8-2, 3-3-2 CAA) were able to generate offense against Northeastern, which is something very few teams have done this season. Northeastern came into Friday's contest boasting the No. 1 ranked defense in the country. The Huskies had only given up four goals all season before facing the Blue Hens.
Scott GrzendaNatalie Zelenky got the scoring going early for UD as the sophomore scored her fourth goal of the year to give Delaware a 1-0 lead at the 9:51 mark. Elise Krause recorded her team-leading fifth assist of the season on the Zelenky score.
Northeastern (11-4-3, 6-1-1 CAA) evened the game at the 35:10 mark when Shayna Blackwood scored her second goal of the season for the Huskies and the teams went to the half knotted up at one.
After neither team was able to get on the board through the first 34 minutes of the second half, senior Rachel Vaccaro gave UD the lead with a goal at the 79:49 mark.
Vaccaro's goal looked like it would be the game-winner for Delaware, but the Huskies answered with a goal of their own six minutes later to force overtime. Both squads had chances to end the game in the extra time, but neither could convert as the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
Northeastern outshot the UD 21-7, but Delaware senior goalkeeper Jess Figueroa kept the Blue Hens in the game and ended up with a season-high eight saves.
In addition to the discrepancy in total shots, the Huskies registered 12 corner kicks to UD's one. Despite the Husky dominance on the stat sheet, the Blue Hens capitalized on their opportunities. The two goals scored by UD is the most goals given up by Northeastern this season. Before Friday's game, the Huskies had only given up one goal in their last eight contests.
Zelenky led the Blue Hens with three shots on the night, while Kayla Cappuzzo led the Northeastern offensive effort with five shots.
The Blue Hens will return to action this Sunday as the UD takes on Hofstra at 1 p.m. in the final game of the regular season.
