By Gayle Simone

After being defeated in the first two games of the season, the Huskies won their home opener with a shutout defeating Quinnipiac University 3-0 tuesday night at Matthews Arena.

Marisa Hourihan looked flawless in net making 30 saves, two outstanding in the final two minutes of play, to lead her team to their first victory of the 2004-2005 season and her third career shutout.

Despite losing to Niagara University last weekend, 7-2 and 6-0, coach Laura Schuler said her goalie had a good weekend and tonight showed just how good she is.

“[Hourihan] came up with some really big, key saves for us,” Schuler said. “That boosts everyone’s confidence knowing you have somebody behind you that’s going to stop everything. And she did. They had some breakaways and she stopped everything.”

After a scoreless first period, Stephanie Wood netted her first goal of the season, which also proved to be the game winner, 13:55 in the second. Marie Desrosiers earned her first of two assists of the game and season on the play.

“[Desrosiers] made a couple of phenomenal passes,” Schuler said. “I hope she continues to do what she’s doing. It would be nice to have a prolific goal scorer on her line, but for now I will be looking for her to put the puck in the net as well as feed her line mates.”

Lori DiGiacomo, playing defense as opposed to her normal forward position, added a power-play goal in the opening minutes of the third period.

“[The goal] was set up nicely,” DiGiacomo said. “Everyone was in the right spot, the right positioning. I saw an opening and I just took it.”

The official score keeper gave the third Husky goal, unassisted, to Jennifer Beaudoin, but she disagrees.

“It wasn’t my goal. It was Nikki Petrich’s,” Beaudoin said. “I wish I could take credit for that goal, but I can’t. They gave it to me, but it wasn’t mine.”

Whether the goal scorer listed was right or wrong, something was definitely right about this team on the ice last night.

“We came back [from the first two games] and we kind of regrouped in practice,” Schuler said. “We worked on our mistakes. We switched things up. We went back to playing more of a basic system of hockey.

“In the first period, I thought it was going to be a replay of the Niagara series, but then they settled down. And they were definitely playing much better hockey tonight.”

With a new coaching staff and new position players, that’s a step in the right direction since the Huskies will have their first conference match up Nov. 3 against University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H.

“I think [UNH] is going to underestimate us,” DiGiacomo said. “I think we are going to surprise them and a lot of other teams.”

Three key Huskies, Theresa Ella, Crystal Rochon and Missy Elumba, all out with injuries, hope to be with their team on the ice for the conference match-up. Their coach said their health comes first, but if they are not back, she still likes their chances against the Wildcats.

“I think being the underdog helps. There are no expectations that you have to win,” Schuler said. “What the girls showed me tonight is that they want to win. They want to do all the little things to get the ‘W’. We hope to put up a good fight against them, play two-way hockey and get as many chances as them.”

The Huskies will return home Nov. 6 and Nov. 7 to take on non-conference opponents, St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University.