By: Kathryn Uggerholt, News Correspondent
The women’s hockey team clinched a fifth-place playoff spot this weekend when senior forward Lori Antflick scored the game-tying goal to help the Huskies skate to a 1-1 contest against the University of Connecticut Sunday.
“They beat us on our senior day, so we wanted to return the favor,” Antflick said. “It’s just important to send the message because we figured we would be playing them again next weekend in the playoffs.”
UConn opened the scoring when forward Sami Evelyn lit the lamp 11:35 into the first period.
Antflick evened up the score 10:37 into the second period for her seventh goal of the season. Sophomore forward Siena Falino assisted the play when she controlled the puck off a deflected UConn defender and dished it to Antflick.
The game remained scoreless after Antflick’s goal, marking the third time this season she has scored to send the game into overtime. Neither team converted in the extra frame.
Northeastern dictated the pace of the game and outshot UConn 44-24, but head coach Dave Flint said his players need to execute more efficiently.
“They have a very good goalie, but we had some opportunities and we couldn’t capitalize on them,” Flint said. “We create some good chances and do some good stuff offensively, but to score you have to be able to finish.”
But before the Huskies could clinch a playoff spot with the draw Sunday, UConn spoiled senior day at Matthews Arena Saturday when the visitors scored three unanswered goals in the third period to win 4-2.
Junior defenseman Stephanie Gavronsky and sophomore forward Rachel Llanes scored in the loss. The game was scoreless through the first 40 minutes of play.
But in the third period, UConn forward Kiana Nauheim helped get her team on the board when she scored 6:41 into the final frame, however Gavronsky and Llanes gave NU a 2-1 lead when they scored goals three minutes apart.
However, UConn’s Taylor Gross and Jocelyn Slattery put together back-to-back scores in 25 seconds with five minutes to play to take a 3-2 lead and Evelyn added an empty netter to seal the win.
Despite the scoring in the final period, Flint said he got the best out of his team in the opening stanza and that the game got progressively worse as it went on.
“We had trouble getting anything going offensively,” Flint said. “Things weren’t clicking – it was pretty sloppy on both sides.”
NU hasn’t seen the last of UConn, however, the two Huskies teams will meet again in the opening round of the Hockey East quarterfinals Saturday. The puck drops at 1 p.m. in Storrs, Conn.
“Saturday was really unfortunate because we would have liked to have home ice advantage,” Antflick said. “But now we’re confident we can beat UConn.”
