BERKELEY – A golden goal by the visiting Northeastern Huskies (2-0) put a damper on Cal field hockey's (0-1) Berkeley homecoming. After tying the game up late in the second period, the Huskies powered through an aggressive Cal offense in overtime to take the win in the inaugural game at Cal's Underhill Field, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon.
 
The reigning America East Rookie of the Year, Melina Moore, tallied one goal and one assist in her sophomore year debut. Sophomore classmate Janaye Sakkas also scored a goal for the Bears, while senior Nicole Henriksson notched her first assist of the season.
 
Northeastern saw all three of its goals off penalty corners, with Kristin Abreu, Laura MacLahlan and Natalie Stewart all scoring. June Curry-Lindahl had a pair of assists, and Alyssa Carlson assisted on Stewart's golden goal.
 
Abreu put Northeastern on the board in the 22nd minute with a goal off of one of the Huskies' four first-half corners. It gave the visitors a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime despite an even 4-4 shot output.
 
Moore tied the game up for the Bears at 44:27 with a hit knocked into the right side of the cage, and Sakkas made it a one-goal lead at 56:30. When Sakkas couldn't find an opening, she sent the ball to Moore, who sent it back in the air for Sakkas to knock into the goal.
 
"Oh my gosh, it was a rush of adrenaline," Sakkas said. "I just remember the moment after we scored. The hug after was the most amazing feeling. That's something that you want to do every game."
 
The Bears nearly held on through the end of regulation, but a penalty corner at 69:43 paved the way for a Northeastern upset. Though the Bears blocked the first corner attempt, Northeastern was granted a second corner with no time left on the clock, and MacLachlan tied it up.
 
"I was excited because last year we did really well in overtime," Sakkas said. "We still had a chance to win, and it wasn't like the game was over. I just tried to keep as positive an attitude because I knew that my teammates would be there for me."
 
In 7-on-7 action during overtime, the Bears were the more dominant team but once again saw their shot at the W disappear on a penalty corner when Stewart scored in the 81^st minute.
 
The loss didn't completely diminish the Cal spirits as the Bears were happy to be home.
 
"It was unreal. It was such a good feeling having such a supportive fanbase and knowing that everyone was out there supporting us and what we were going to do on the field," Moore said.
 
Several newcomers made their Blue and Gold debut on Sunday. Freshmen Lindsay Mathison and Femke Delissen started the contest, while rookie teammates Gabi Jimenez and Kyra Kent each saw time off the bench. Sophomore Katrina Carter, who redshirted in 2015, also earned her first collegiate start.
 
Mathison, who hails from Gladstone, Australia, adjusted to the college game easily, sending in two shots during overtime.
 
"I wasn't nervous or anything. Just excited. It was cool to be a part of that," Mathison said. "After preseason, I felt good. I was exhausted heading into overtime but I felt good about our team and I knew that we definitely could've gone out there and won it."
 

HEAD COACH SHELLIE ONSTEAD'S TAKE

On team's energy:
No matter who was in, even with subs, the energy stayed high. That was a team goal for them, and I think they did great.
 
On overtime:
We've actually had time to prepare for overtime this year, so we were feeling really confident. We played a few overtimes in our exhibitions and I think they handled overtime really well. We just got a little unlucky with the corner play.
 
I'm really happy with our fitness. That was another reason I thought we might be successful in overtime because we had a lot of gas in the tank.
 
On playing back in Berkeley:
One of my thoughts coming into the day was that this is probably one of the biggest crowds we've played for and I wasn't sure how it would affect them, but it went really well. We've showed that we can handle it and we'll use it going forward as a great home field advantage.
 

GOLDEN BEAR GOALS

44:27 – Melina Moore (assisted by Nicole Henriksson)
Moore says: I was going toward the defender and saw the cage and the goalie and thought to fire as soon as I could. If it didn't go in, I was going to jump on the rebound, but luckily it went in.
 
56:30 – Janaye Sakkas (assisted by Melina Moore)
Sakkas says: I passed it and Mel passed it back. I hit it in the air. I was thinking in the moment that I better hit it down, and then I was like, 'Just hit it!' and I stopped thinking too much about it.
 

NORTHEASTERN'S GOALS

21:13 – Kristin Abreu (assisted by June Curry-Lindahl)
70:00 – Laura MacLachlan (assisted by June Curry-Lindahl)
80:36 – Natalie Stewart (assisted by Alyssa Carlson)
 

NEWS & NOTES

• Cal is now 13-9 in season openers under head coach Shellie Onstead.
• The Bears have dropped two consecutive season openers, losing to No. 5 Duke 5-1 in the first game of 2015.
• Melina Moore scored her 11^th career goal and first of the season. It was Moore's fourth assist of her career, and first of the season.
• Janaye Sakkas scored her eighth career goal and first of the season.
• Nicole Henriksson tallied her fifth career assist.

NEXT UP

Cal is set for two more home games before hitting the road, starting with Kent State at 6 p.m. on Sept. 2 and followed by Michigan at noon on Sept. 4. The Michigan contest will air live on Pac-12 Networks.