By Madeline Sattler, News Correspondent
The Huskies’ bid for their first Women’s Hockey East Association (WHEA) title came to an end with a 2-0 loss against the Providence College Friars Saturday afternoon in Hyannis.
A late second-period penalty put Providence on the power play, and the Friars quickly capitalized. Freshman forward Haley Frade shot for the upper left corner of the net, grabbing her fourth goal of the season.
“We just didn’t capitalize on our chances,” head coach David Flint said. “You put 41 shots on the net, you would expect to get a couple.”
Despite getting 41 total shots on goal, the Huskies couldn’t get one past senior goalie Genevieve Lacasse. The Ontario native recorded her eighth shutout of the season tying her with Northeastern senior Florence Schelling for the most shutouts in Hockey East.
The game began offensively for both sides with 11 shots apiece in the first period. At 5:59, Friars junior forward Jessica Cohen took a two-minute minor for checking, giving the Huskies an early power play.
Freshman forward Kendall Coyne carried the puck down the ice, speeding past the defense before launching the puck towards the net. Lacasse blocked the initial shot with her legs then reset to catch Coyne’s rebound.
“Give credit to the Providence goalie, she was superb today,” Flint said.
The first period ended scoreless, but with 45 seconds left to play in the second sophomore defender Rebecca Morse crossed the puck in front of the net to Frade, who launched it into the upper left corner out of the reach of Schelling for a power play goal. The Huskies were down a skater after a penalty on junior forward Brittany Esposito seconds earlier.
“[During the second intermission] I told the girls that there was plenty of time,” Flint said. “It was important to not panic and stick with the game plan.”
As the third period opened, the Huskies came out shooting. Graduate forward Dani Rylan had a wide open shot in front of the net, but Lacasse came up with the save and showed no signs of letting up.
At 6:38 into the final period, senior forward Kate Bacon received a major penalty for checking to the head, forcing the Huskies to play on the defensive for five full minutes. Pendleton and Gauthier also served time for minor offenses, but Northeastern could not break Lacasse’s shutout.
“We just didn’t take advantage of opportunities,” Flint said. “Special teams was the difference in the game.”
With 90 seconds to go in the game, Flint pulled Schelling for an extra attacker. Providence senior forward Ashley Cottrell had a breakaway towards the open net, but Coyne tripped her from behind. Because Coyne’s move was illegal,(cut coma) the referees awarded Providence a penalty shot on the empty net(comma) giving Cottrell her 16th goal of the season.
Despite the loss, the weekend was not all bad for the Huskies. Friday night Flint, Schelling and Coyne were all recognized at the WHEA awards ceremony. Flint was recognized as Co-Coach of the Year(cut comma), for directing the Huskies to their best regular season in a decade. He shared the award with University of Maine’s Maria Lewis,
“It was a great honor to win Coach of the Year, but I would trade it in for a win today,” Flint said.
Schelling was honored with her second WHEA Player of the Year having won the award after the 2009-10 season . Coyne was named WHEA Rookie of the Year.
Had Northeastern come out on top, it would not only have advanced to Sunday afternoon’s final, but automatically qualified for the NCAA tournament. The Huskies missed the NCAA tournament after the at-large bid went to Boston College, who was ranked higher in the PairWise Rankings. Boston University received automatic entrance to the tournament after its 2-1 win over Providence Sunday afternoon, despite ranking below Northeastern in the Pairwise Rankings.
