By Kathryn Uggerholt, News Staff
The Huskies had their six-game point streak snapped at Matthews Arena with a 3-2 loss to the St. Lawrence University Saints Jan. 6. Freshman goaltender Chloe Desjardins turned aside 23 shots in her third start this season.
Northeastern had plenty of opportunities in the first period as they tested out Saints freshman goalie Carmen MacDonald (28 saves) with 13 shots on goal. At the other end of the ice, Desjardins faced 8 shots and stood tall on the penalty kill. Northeastern ranked fifth in the nation on the penalty kill at the time of play.
“Each team is different but we each have the same goal for every game, just to stop the puck,” Desjardins said. “St. Lawrence is a pretty good team. It’s the same for me, I get prepared the same way and play the same way. I’m just going into the net and I’m excited for it.”
It was the Saints who broke out with the lead with a goal from freshman forward Ellie Williams at 8:19 in the first. Though the Huskies would have two power play chances later in the period, the teams would head to their locker rooms with the score at 1-0.
Play turned aggressive in the second period as junior forward Casey Pickett and St. Lawrence’s Brooke Fernandez took matching penalties for rouging. Freshman defender Ann Doherty also took a seat for rouging as the Saints junior forward Michelle Ng went to the box for hitting after the whistle.
The period ended with a total of 16 penalty minutes between both lines, putting the Saints on the power play three times. The visitors made the best of their man-advantage with less than five minutes to go when Fernandez beat Desjardins at 15:03 to extend the Saints lead to 2-0.
“We can’t control what the refs call and you have to fight through it no matter what,” said sophomore forward Claire Santostefano. “We have to play through it and we did for the most part. We had a couple good kills but unfortunately they did capitalize a couple times when we were in the box but it’s just the game of hockey.”
The third period opened with an early goal at 1:25 from Santostefano that sparked a potential comeback, with her second goal in two games. Santostefano beat MacDonald with assists from Maggie DiMasi and Sonia St. Martin.
Just over six minutes later, junior forward Brittany Esposito tied the game with a wrist shot off passes from fresh forward Kendall Coyne and Stephanie Gavronsky, that extended her goal scoring streak to four games.
Midway through the period, the Saints pulled ahead with another goal that the Huskies would not be able to bounce back as they fell by a final of 3-2.
“We all have our good days and our bad days,” Desjardins said. “Not everybody was there but we all had good shifts, we all did good things. I think we can learn from that game and be stronger in the next one.”
The loss ended a five-game unbeaten streak, which had been extended the day before with a 5-2 win over Clarkson University on home ice.
Coyne started the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 10:45 in the first. After blocking a shot, she beat any Clarkson player to the puck at center ice and went in alone on sophomore goalie Erica Howe (17 saves) and beat her on the play to make it 1-0. A penalty to freshman forward Lucie Povova put the Huskies down a man, which was the only penalty they took the whole game.
The offense exploded in the second period with four goals from Northeastern. Esposito started off the scoring with a power play goal at 7:17 when her backhand broke through the nation’s number one penalty kill to extend the Huskies lead to 2-0. Doherty and Pickett picked up the assists on Esposito’s goal, which was her 50th career point.
The Huskies scored three goals in less than three minutes, with a goal from Santostefano at 12:59. Sophomore defender Rachel Llanes scored at 14:38 and Coyne capped the run for Northeastern at 15:57, putting the Huskies up by four.
“Clarkson- we pretty much demolished them,” Santostefano said. “The entire game we took control. They’re a big physical team but we’re faster and we capitalized on their goalie.”
Mixed in with the flurry of Northeastern goals, Clarkson scored at 15:06. The second period ended with the score at 5-1.
After a scrum behind the net, Clarkson made it a three goal game at 18:24 but it was too little too late as second period dominance propelled the Huskies to 5-2 victory.
The Huskies take on Providence College Sunday before facing the Boston College Eagles on Tuesday.
