2002 Schedule/Results
2002 Statistics

Northeastern 3, New Hampshire 1
America East Championship Semifinal
Nov. 9, 2002
Parsons Field (Brookline, MA)

Team	1st	2nd	Final
New Hampshire (10-5-2, 4-2-2)	1	0	1
Northeastern (10-7-2, 6-2-0)	1	2	3

Nate Houghton 2 goals

Joe Parrish fights for the ball against New Hampshire at Parsons Field on Saturday.

America East Offensive Player of the Year Atha Kirkopoulos scored in the 60th minute to break a 1-1 tie and lead top-seeded Northeastern to a 3-1 win over fourth-seeded New Hampshire in the America East Championship semifinals at Parsons Field. Kirkopoulos took a cross from Michael Cipriano and beat Wildcat goalkeeper Mike Vignola with a low shot to the far post from 10 yards out. It was the eighth goal of the season for Kirkopoulos.

Senior Nate Houghton had two goals for the Huskies, giving him four in his last two games, as NU improved to 10-7-2. He added his second of the game and eighth of the season (a little more than two minutes after Kirkopoulos had scored) to give Northeastern an insurance goal and a 3-1 lead.

"I thought we played very well tonight considering that we had a lot of our guys playing in their first playoff game," said NU head coach Ed Matz.

Both teams wasted little time in scoring. Houghton scored off a scramble in front of Vignola in the third minute to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. The lead was shortlived as New Hampshire evened it in the fourth minute when sophomore Logan Lee headed in a throw-in from Doug Lawver for his 10th goal of the season.

"I thought we kept our composure after that goal," Matz said. "It's the story of our year, a total team effort, everyone played well and contributed."

America East Rookie of the Year Sergio Saccoccio made seven saves for Northeastern. Vignola had three stops for the Wildcats, who fell to 10-5-2. Northeastern improves to 7-1-1 at home this season and 14-2-1 over the last two years, outscoring their opponents 54-19 over that stretch.

Northeastern will play the winner of Sunday's other semifinal game between Hartford and Vermont in the America East title game next Sunday at 1 p.m. at Parsons Field. The Huskies will be seeking their first America East crown in the 14 years the conference has sponsored a championship. Northeastern lost a 1-0 decision at Towson in the America East Championship final last year.

Scoring
First Half:
NU - Nate Houghton 2:52
UNH - Logan Lee (Doug Lawver) 3:38

Second Half:
NU - Atha Kirkopoulos (Michael Cipriano) 59:25
NU - Nate Houghton 61:30

Shots
New Hampshire, 10
Northeastern, 9

Corner Kicks
New Hampshire, 5
Northeastern, 8

Offsides
New Hampshire, 5
Northeastern, 0

Fouls
New Hampshire, 12
Northeastern, 10

Saves
New Hampshire, Mike Vignola 3
Northeastern, Sergio Saccoccio 7