WORCESTER, Mass. – Jonathan Eckford and Conner Alexander each scored a goal for the Huskies as the Holy Cross men's soccer team fell to Northeastern, 2-0, in non-conference action on Tuesday night at the Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium. With the loss, the Crusaders fall to 2-4-1 overall, while the Huskies improve to 3-3-2 overall.

The Crusaders created a goal scoring opportunity in the eighth minute when sophomore Luke Melody (Mansfield, Conn.) sent a shot just wide of the goal. The Huskies took the first shot on goal in the 25th minute when sophomore goalie Kevin Wright (McKinney, Texas) made a save on a shot by Christian McKenna. Freshman Ryan Gavey (Fairfield, Conn.) posted a shot on goal when he sent a long ball form the left side of the field that forced Northeastern goalie Dylan Faber to make a save in the 30th minute. Each goalie tallied one save in the first half.

Wright was able to keep the Huskies off the scoreboard by making four straight saves. McKenna had a shot saved on a shot from 12 yards that was going to the left corner of the net in the 53rd minute. Wright then made a diving save on a shot by Dante Marini in the 62nd minute. Just 2:10 later, Marini had another shot saved by Wright as this one was taken from eight yards out. Marini then took a third shot on goal in the 68th minute as Wright deflected the ball over the net. At 68:02, the Huskies scored the first goal of the game when Jonathan Eckford scored on a header off a corner kick by Robbie Schallmo for his first goal of the season. The Crusaders made a bid to tie the game when a shot by Gavey was blocked and then Melody's shot on the rebound was also blocked in the 81st minute. Northeastern increased its lead at 83:44 when Conner Alexander scored off a crossing pass by Marc Greenblatt. The goal was Alexander's first of the season. Neither team took another shot on goal for the 2-0 final score.   

Wright made five saves, while Faber posted one to earn the win and improve to 3-3-2 on the season. Northeastern outshot Holy Cross, 13-9, while the Huskies took seven shots on goal and the Crusaders had one. The Huskies had five corner kicks and the Crusaders took two.

The Crusaders return to action on Saturday, Sept. 28 when they travel to Baltimore, Md., to open their Patriot League season versus Loyola (Md.) at 1:00 p.m.

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