Northeastern men beat VCU

The Northeastern Huskies clinched themselves a spot in the CAA tournament with a 3-1 win over VCU on Sunday, as Devin Petta set a new Northeastern single-season scoring record with 32 (13-6-32) points on the season.

VCU came into the game without a goal in its last four, while the Huskies took Parsons Field looking to uphold their unbeaten 5-0-2 home record. Northeastern controlled the first half play, registering eight shots to VCU's three. The Huskies had a number of chances, including many of crosses just long for Veronica Napoli who broke down the left side throughout the game.

Northeastern got on the board before the close of the first half, as Kristen Blake played a long ball to Devin Petta, who deflected it through the challenging keeper, leaving her 25 yards out with an empty net. It was Petta's 13th goal of the season, giving her 32 points total and breaking the NU single-season scoring record that had stood since 1996. Petta leads the team and the CAA in goals, points and game-winning goals.

Northeastern made it 2-0 three and half minutes into the second half, when co-captain Liza Rebello scored her seventh goal of the season. The play began with a series of passes from Gabbi Jatkola to Kristen Blake and resulted with Rebello in on the right side to score. Rebello's goal made her the second all-time in scoring at Northeastern, with 56 career points.

The Huskies would strike once more, when Rebello fed Veronica Napoli to make it 3-0 in the 88th minute. VCU returned fire just 13 seconds later, as senior Jasmine Riley broke from the whistle and through the defense to score VCU's first goal in five games. Riley, the strongest Ram forward, had four shots on net. Huskies' goalkeeper Stephanie Gordon recorded four saves and improved to 10-2-2 on the season.

The Huskies are now 10-3-3 (6-1-3 CAA) entering their final regular season game against no.1 ranked Hofstra. Hofstra is only two points ahead of Northeastern in the standings, meaning that a NU win this coming Saturday will result in Northeastern hosting the CAA tournament. The Pride and the Huskies will face off on Oct. 31 at 2 p.m at Parsons Field.