It was a very eventful weekend for the NYU soccer program as both the men’s and women’s teams played multiple games across the tri-state area. The women’s team spent the weekend in Hoboken, New Jersey playing two games at Stevens Institute’s Engineering Cup. They faced off against Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday and took on the nationally ranked host Stevens on Sunday afternoon.

The weekend started well for the Violets as it took just seven minutes for junior midfielder Steph Ho’s header to finish off a beautiful corner kick and give NYU an early advantage. The extreme heat and humidity didn’t slow the Violets’ attack as they doubled their lead on a 35th minute goal by junior forward Charlotte Herbertz. A beautiful free kick goal from MIT at the beginning of the second half gave the Engineers hope, but junior forward Teressa Fazio added a much needed insurance goal in the 66th minute, securing the Violets a 3-1 victory.

On Sunday, the women faced the 14th ranked Stevens Institute Ducks in a back-and-forth battle. Stevens opened the scoring with goals in the seventh and 33rd minutes, but NYU quickly retaliated. Fazio’s second goal of the weekend, along with junior forward McKennah Spagnola’s long strike, which bounced off the crossbar and into the goal, equalized for the Violets with 28 minutes to play. The game remained even until overtime when Stevens found the back of the net to win the game in the 106th minute. The loss was the Violets’ first of the season, dropping their record to 3-1.

It was an equally challenging weekend for the NYU men as they couldn’t quite conquer the heat and struggled to produce scoring chances on Saturday against Hunter College at Randall’s Island. Hunter started strong and took an early lead on Aiden Tucker’s sixth minute goal. Both teams failed to produce any legitimate chances until the 80th minute when Hunter College doubled their lead. NYU quickly countered as senior captain Petter Aasa scored his team-leading third goal of the year on a penalty kick just two minutes later. Their strong final push wasn’t enough, and the Violets suffered their second defeat of the young season.

Sunday morning saw the men travel to Long Island’s much cooler temperatures and take on The College at Old Westbury. Sophomore forward Evan Reifsnyder opened the scoring early with a brilliant goal off a cross from junior midfielder Tristan Medios-Simon. Just six minutes later, Dominic Guidance answered for Old Westbury, tying up the game 1-1. The teams battled for another 100 minutes with no score, and the game deadlocked at one. The draw moved the Violets record to 2-2-1 on the season.

Junior forward Nicolas Notaro focused on the importance of improving throughout the season.

“There’s a lot of work to do and we have to take advantage of this time before league play,” Notaro said. “UAA games are the ones we can’t afford to lose.”

Both teams are back in action this Wednesday, with the NYU women traveling to Farmingdale and the men’s soccer team playing in Riverdale against the College of Mount Saint Vincent.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Sept. 12 print edition. Email Ben Goodkin at [email protected].