By Jason Richland

CAMBRIDGE – Nothing is sweeter than beating Boston University on their home field except perhaps ending BU’s season there as well.

The Northeastern field hockey team defeated the BU Terriers, 2-0, for the America East Championship at Jack Berry Field on Sunday.

The Huskies won their fourth straight AE title for a total of 10 titles in 14 years.

“It gets tougher every year,” said Husky coach Cheryl Murtagh. “I am very excited. We have a great group of kids and we should be in this tournament.”

The victory earns the Huskies an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament and puts an abrupt end to the Terriers’ season.

“We had a great opportunity to come back and play a team we hadn’t played well against,” said senior captain Alli Bolster. “It was a mental thing. We put so much pressure on them we forced them to make mistakes.”

Senior co-captain Mari Creatini received the America East Championship’s Most Outstanding Player award.

“We have a great attitude,” the forward said. “That helped us come together and win.”

Northeastern suffered its only conference loss on Oct. 24, to BU at Jack Berry Field. In the loss, the Huskies were outshot 21-7.

“It feels great to come back and beat BU,” said sophomore Whitney Shean. “I think our problem was we were playing individually, but we got our passing game together and we played as a team.”

In the opening minutes, the Terriers pressed hard on the Huskies and recorded most of their seven shots early in the first half.

“Once we get into our game, it’s all downhill for the other team,” Shean said. “We took over today. We won this one.”

The tide had already turned in favor of Northeastern when senior co-captain Liane Dixon beat Terrier goalie Erin Prediger, but hit the post with 19 minutes remaining in the half.

“We wanted to redeem ourselves after our last game against BU,” Dixon said. “We were there defensively, we got back into our game, our routine and we settled in.”

Creatini scored the game-winner at 11:47 in the first half off of a corner from redshirt-freshman Ashley Webber. Webber picked up the deflection following the corner and passed to Creatini who tipped it in.

“The passing and quick releases [were our strengths],” Murtagh said. “We are a good passing team.”

In the second half, the Huskies dominated offensively, outshooting the Terriers 16-1 and holding the advantage in corners at 10-1.

“BU plays good defense and we didn’t allow them to,” Murtagh said. “We really broke their press.”

Dixon scored the second goal at 9:42 in the second half. Dixon burst past three defenders and the goalkeeper to bury the ball for the goal.

“We wanted to come out and leave with a bang,” said senior co-captain Diana Nelson. “We came out wanting to win and this is step one.”

Dixon, Creatini, Nelson and junior Lauren Edelmeier were named to the America East all-tournament team following the game.

Nelson made 11 saves and allowed one goal in the tournament.

The Huskies took down the University of Maine, 2-1, on Friday in the first game of the AE Championship to advance to play BU.

Junior Lauren Edelmeier scored both goals off corners for the Huskies in the second half from sophomores Natalie Singelais and Shean.

The Huskies will play this Saturday at 2 p.m. against the University of Connecticut at Harvard’s Jordan Field.