By: Kathryn Uggerholt, News Correspondent
The women’s hockey team extended its winning streak to four games last weekend, improving to 5-1-1 on the season.
In their home opener Friday, the Huskies edged out the Princeton University Tigers with a final of 2-1. The Huskies came out victorious again Sunday afternoon when they defeated the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Engineers 5-1.
“I think this past weekend were our best two games so far,” head coach Dave Flint said after practice Monday night. “We’re still trying to adapt day in and day out. I think this weekend they showed me they’re really starting to get it, really coming around. I was happy for them.”
Sunday’s game saw five different Huskies score, with Northeastern striking 6:22 into the first when sophomore forward Casey Pickett notched her first goal of the season assisted by senior defenseman Julia Marty and sophomore forward Siena Falino. Marty leads the team with seven assists.
Sophomore forward Rachel Llanes gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Junior defenseman Stephanie Gavronsky scored the Huskies second power play goal of the game in the second period when she snuck the puck past RPI goalie Sonja van der Bliek, who made 14 saves before being replaced by Shannon Ramelot in the third.
The Huskies added two more goals in the third period to ensure the victory. Freshman forward Katie MacSorley continued her impressive rookie campaign, and netted her fifth goal of the season.
RPI finally got on the board late in the third when forward Taylor Horton got one past junior goaltender Florence Schelling 11 minutes into the period, who made 25 saves in the contest.
Marty scored on the power play with just five seconds to go in the game, recording her fourth point of the game. Marty is the first Northeastern player to have a four-point game since Chelsey Jones earned five in a game against Maine Dec. 3, 2006.
Flint said he expects strong play from his senior captain going forward.
“She showed the old Julia,” Flint said. “Where she is involved in the play, stepping up in the offensive zone and making things happen. It was good to see her step up in those two games. I think she’s going to do a lot of great things this year.”
Marty said she did not do anything out of the ordinary in order to excel in Sunday’s game.
“When you play well you have confidence and everything goes a certain way,” Marty said.
In the home opener Friday, the Huskies out-shot the Princeton Tigers 33-26. The Huskies lit the lamp first when Llanes scored on a power play with 4:35 left in the first period. Princeton evened the score in the second period, when forward Paula Romanchuk scored her first goal of the season 6:32 into the second stanza.
The Huskies’ offense responded four minutes later when Gavronsky received an up-ice pass from Schelling and buried the puck past goaltender Cassie Seguin.
Schelling, who earned the third star of the game, earned her first career point from her assist on Gavronsky’s goal. She stopped the Tigers 25 times, securing the win.
The Huskies’ first Hockey East matchup will be against the University of Vermont (UVM) when they play back-to-back games this weekend at Matthews Arena. UVM has played two conference games thus far and has lost both.
Flint said he expects the games to be defensive battles, and that anything can happen in the conference this season.
“[Vermont] has good goaltending and always plays strong defensively,” he said. “Anybody in our league can beat everybody. If we don’t show up and don’t play the way we’re capable of playing we could end up losing, so it is important that we set the tone right off the bat.”
Having so many non-conference games at the beginning of the season is something Marty believes has been beneficial for the team.
“I think it’s good we have a couple of non-conference games at the beginning of the season as a team to find each other,” Marty said. “After this weekend, I think we’ve found a way to perform very well together.”
The Huskies return to action tomorrow at 5 p.m. when the Catamounts come to Matthews Arena.
