By: Mike Brown, News Correspondent
If freshman forward Katie MacSorely felt pressure in her first collegiate hockey game, she certainly didn’t show it.
MacSorely scored two goals in the women’s hockey team’s season-opening 4-4 tie with Syracuse Oct. 1. Her performance has earned her Huntington News Player of the Week honors.
“[Since] it was my first collegiate game, it was pretty cool to score two goals,” MacSorely said.
MacSorely’s goals against Syracuse came in the third period. Her first tied the game at 3-3, before scoring again halfway through the period, on an assist from fellow freshman and defender Maggie DiMasi, to give the Huskies a 4-3 lead. She also took six of Northeastern’s 19 shots on goal in the game.
The transition from high school to Division I can be daunting for hockey players, MacSorely said.
“The speed at this level is amazing,” she said. “Last year [in high school] I could just skate around people, but you can’t do that here.”
MacSorely came to Northeastern after playing for the Stratford Aces, a team in the Lower Lakes hockey League in her hometown of Startford, Ontario, for four years. She also won a silver medal with Team Ontario in Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Championship in 2009.
“Making [Team Ontario] gave me the confidence that I could play Division I hockey,” MacSorely said. “It’s always been my dream to get a Division I scholarship. It was my goal from day one.”
To make Team Ontario, MacSorely had to try out against other high school hockey players throughout the province. After making the team, she went to Surrey, British Columbia, to compete against teams representing the other Canadian provinces.
Women’s hockey head coach Dave Flint had plenty of praise for MacSorely.
“She gives us speed up front and a scoring touch,” he said. “We’ve always been sound defensively, and [now] Katie gives us scoring.”
MacSorley said Flint and the rest of the Huskies’ coaching staff played a big part in her decision to come to Northeastern.
“The team was awesome, and there’s a great coaching staff,” MacSorley said. “It feels like home. I visited other schools, but they didn’t feel like home.”
Flint said that he didn’t discover MacSorely, it was actually assistant coach Linda Lundrigan.
“We scout heavily [in Canada], and she was always a top scorer for her team,” Flint said. “It was a good fit.”
Flint said he is confident MacSorely can grow as a hockey player throughout the rest of the season.
“I expect her to progress,” Flint said. “She’s still trying to get used to the coaches and a new system.”
MacSorely said she has few interests outside of hockey.
“I just like hockey, hanging out with friends, the usual stuff,” she said.
She is currently studying accounting, but has “no idea” what she wants to do after college.
MacSorely and the Huskies have three more road games before she makes her Matthews Arena debut Oct. 22 against Princeton University.
