Teams keep Northeastern coach on the run

The women have been paced by freshman Kristin Kowalik with 11 goals and three assists, followed by junior Liz Dyjak of Ludlow with seven goals and six assists and junior Jen North of Duxbury with eight goals and three assists. The Huskies, who have two games remaining, tied the school record of 11 wins set three seasons ago.

"The classes we've brought in are starting to mature. The girls are used to playing as a group," said Matz, who does not have a single senior on the roster. So the captains' duties have been given to Dyjak and North, along with defender Andi Matthews of North Easton, who scored the goal at Albany. "Kristin, Liz, and Jen are tremendously talented players. They all play together, Kristin and Jen at striker and Liz as our attacking midfielder."

NU won six straight games, lost a pair, then rebounded to defeat Vermont, 3-1, and Hartford, 4-0. The Huskies were winning for the first time ever against Hartford, a team they had scored the grand total of one goal against over the previous seven seasons. Hartford had outscored Northeastern, 35-1, in all games played since NU started its women's program in 1997.

"It was a big win, especially after they had beaten us last year, 3-0, in our conference semifinals," said Matz, who saw junior keeper Cindy Slowik post her sixth shutout of the season. "Cindy is 10-3 on the season and has a young defense in front of her. Matthews has been a defensive leader at outside back. She's very good at transition, she knows our system, she's a strong marker, and she can calm things down in front of Cindy."

The defending America East champion men are paced offensively by last year's conference Player of the Year, Atha Kirkopoulos, a senior striker, and freshman Daniel Ivec, each with five goals and two assists. Captain Joe Parrish, a BC High graduate from Holbrook, has been strong at stopper back.

"Joe is what NU soccer is all about," said Matz. "He's a non-scholarship athlete, as is the case with 90 percent of our kids, and he simply comes to play." Also impressive defensively is Jay Hanson, a junior from Spencer, who plays sweeper and is coming back from an injury that sidelined him for the last half of the 2002 season. Keeper Sergio Saccoccio, a sophomore and last year's AEC Rookie of the Year, had a 1.27 goals-against average and five shutouts while playing every minute.

"It's been kind of an up-and-down year for us,"said Matz. "We were ranked as high as 16th in the country early in the season and that may have been based more on what we accomplished last year. But we're definitely playing our best soccer of the year right now."

And if you're wondering how Matz manages to coach two teams, it's because he arranges the schedules. The native of Woodsville, N.H., was at Parsons Field Wednesday for the men's game against UNH. He traveled by bus yesterday with the women to Albany, then was slated to do likewise this morning with the men for tomorrow's game at Vermont.

"I'm filling in for one of the coaches Sunday morning with the Spirit of Massachusetts U-13 Girls Soccer Club," said Matz, who is the club's director of coaching. "Between games and practices, I have no days off during the soccer season, but I love it. And when both teams are doing well, the season just flies by."

National duty

Williams College senior men's player Khari Stephenson was not only leading the Ephs in scoring, he was also finding time to help the Jamaican national team qualify for the 2004 Olympics. A week ago Saturday, when Stephenson started for Jamaica in a 1-0 victory over Cuba in Kingston, Williams was defeating NESCAC rival Middlebury, 2-0. "We're very happy for Khari and we were delighted with our own result," said Williams coach Mike Russo, whose team is 9-1-1 and hosts Amherst tomorrow. Stephenson had 12 goals and three assists to also lead the conference. "It's such an honor to be asked to play for your country and to contribute makes it all the more meaningful. And for us to win against a very good Middlebury team on the road without Khari boosted our team's confidence a great deal, so I'd have to say that was a great weekend for Williams soccer." A win in the next stage next month would send the Jamaican team to an eight-team qualifier in Costa Rica with the top two teams qualifying for the Athens Games. "There is no doubt in my mind that Khari right now is one of the best players in the country in any division," added Russo. "He's got skills, physical presence, pace, fitness, and he has improved tremendously on defending -- he's a complete player. All of this exposure on the world stage will only serve to help him realize his dream of playing professionally."

Honorable mention

Wheaton College women's player Jordan Pouliot of Manchester, N.H., was honored as the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Player of the Week after scoring four goals in two games against Babson and WPI. She was tied for fourth in conference scoring with 25 points for Wheaton, which was ranked fourth nationally and first in New England . . . Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, N.H., inducted its first national championship team as well as assistant athletic director and head athletic trainer Cynthia Arman into its Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday. The 1994 women's team won the Division 2 title while posting a 19-0 record and kicking off a 40-match win streak that still ranks second all time in the division. Mark Krikorian's team included the Massachusetts contingent of Amy (Hanlon) Lochhead of Abington, Julie Mills of Newbury, and Jeanette Smith of Whitman. Arman was an assistant coach of that team.