By Emily Pagliaroli, news correspondent
In the Hockey East Tournament semifinals, the Northeastern women’s hockey team fell short to Boston University (BU) on March 7 at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center in Massachusetts. BU defeated the Huskies 6-1 and bumped Northeastern from the tournament.
“It was one of those days where I felt like things didn’t go right,” Head Coach Dave Flint said. “They were getting some bounces and credit to their team. They created opportunities for themselves.”
Senior assistant captain Chloe Desjardins started in net for NU and senior goaltender Victoria Hanson started for BU.
Both teams came out strong early in the first period. Junior forward captain Kendall Coyne led a charge at the Terriers, but the shot was saved by Hanson. With less than five minutes left in the period, BU’s senior forward captain Marie-Philip Poulin put one past Desjardins and BU led 1-0 at the end of 20 minutes.
Poulin was able to get her second goal of the night just five minutes into the second period after she centered the puck and sent it past Desjardins’ right shoulder. With less than a minute left in the period, senior defenseman Shannon Doyle sent the puck flying from the blue line that trickled into the back of the net. Thirty seconds later, sophomore forward Maddie Elia scored to put BU ahead 4-0 going into the third period.
Sophomore defenseman Heather Mottau had a great scoring opportunity early in the third period, but Hanson shut her out. Poulin managed to complete her hat trick early in the third period, putting BU ahead 5-0.
NU’s top line managed to get on the board midway through the period. With assists from Coyne and freshman forward Denisa Krizova, freshman forward Taytum Clairmont snuck one past Hanson and ruined BU’s shutout. Terrier forward Natalie Flynn scored the sixth and final goal of the night with less than five minutes left in regulation, making the score 6-1. Time expired and NU lost for the fourth consecutive tournament to BU.
“Tough way to end the season but I think we were proud of our efforts to get down to Hyannis and we look forward to next year,” Coyne said.
Team workouts for the 2015-16 season begin on Monday. Flint said that with this year’s nine freshman having a year of play under their belt and a healthy junior forward Paige Savage and sophomore forward Hayley Scamurra, fans can expect more from the team.
“Obviously our main goal is to win a Hockey East championship and get to the [National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament] for the first time,” Flint said. “We’ve been right on the cusp here for a few years so now we got to make this transition.”
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
