Back on Oct. 21, the University of Maine field hockey team headed to Boston to face conference power Northeastern, played well most of the game … and found out that wasn’t good enough.

The Huskies took advantage of a few Black Bear lapses and turned in a 5-1 drubbing.

At least that’s what the scoreboard said. Senior star Morgan Brady says something different.

“The score didn’t reflect the game or the effort we put out,” Brady said. “It was a 1-1 game at halftime and we let in a couple of bad goals that took the air out of us. We didn’t play well for about 15 minutes and it cost us.”

The Black Bears will have a chance to get their revenge today, as they head back to Boston to face Northeastern in the America East tournament semifinals.

The No. 4 Black Bears (10-7, 6-3 in league play) take on top-seeded Northeastern (14-5, 9-0) at 3 p.m. at Sweeney Field.

Second-seeded Boston University (8-10, 6-3) faces No. 3 Delaware (12-7, 6-3) at 5:30 in the other semifinal. The championship game is set for 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Black Bears have been led statistically by junior Jen Johnstone, sophomore Karyn Magno and fifth-year senior Morgan Brady. All are among the top 20 scorers in the league, based on points per game.

Johnstone is third in the league with 25 points on 10 goals and five assists, while Magno is eighth (21 points on nine goals and three assists), and Brady is 13th with 19 points on two goals and 15 assists.

Brady and Johnstone were both named to the All-America East’s first team Thursday.

Brady, who has been effective as the “inserter” on Maine’s penalty corner unit, set a school record for assists, breaking Annie Elkanich’s 14 set in 1994.

Northeastern counters with the league’s fourth, ninth and 12th scorers in Liane Dixon (27 points), Sarah Broderick (24) and Maureen Connelly (18). Broderick was named the league’s offensive player of the year and Dixon was selected its rookie of the year.

They’ll try to solve UMaine sophomore goalie Jaye Lance, who compiled a .725 save percentage and 1.67 goals-against average during the regular season. Northeastern’s Kathleen Medaus counters with a .756 save percentage and 1.30 GAA.

Senior captain Janet Riese said the Bears were happy to make it back to the four-team league tournament for the first time since 1997, but admitted that just getting to the tourney isn’t quite enough.

“The goals do change,” Riese said. “Now our goal is to win the tournament, and to definitely win on Friday and get some respect in the conference.”

Coach Terry Kix said the Black Bears will make some adjustments to deal with Northeastern’s potent attack, but said having been on the short end of a 5-1 score may actually help her team in one regard.

“We’re hoping that since they had a lot of success against us in our initial matchup that maybe we can catch them not quite as ready for us as they would be in the championship game,” Kix said.

Brady and Riese don’t mind facing the Huskies right off the bat, either.

“We know Northeastern’s a fantastic team, but they’re very beatable and the way we’re playing, it’s going to be hard to stop us,” Brady said.

Riese said playing on Northeastern’s home turf won’t be much of an obstacle, either.

“I don’t think it’s any harder to play there than any other place in the country,” Riese said. “We’re used to it by now.”