By Sarah Moomaw, News Staff

The Huskies opened the season in fine fashion as they unleashed three goals in the game’s first nine minutes, leading to a 4-2 win over the Merrimack College Warriors tonight at Matthews Arena.

Senior forward Garrett Vermeersch picked up where he left off from Sunday’s exhibition match – in which he opened the third period with a goal at 0:35 – by putting Northeastern on the board just 53 seconds into the season.

His first goal of the year was redirected of a pass from freshman defender Colton Saucerman near the blue line for an early 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, sophomore right wing Joseph Manno took a pass from freshman forward Kevin Roy at 4:57.

With the help of senior right wing Vinny Saponari and sophomore left wing Adam Reid, Roy found the net at 8:33 on the power play, putting the Huskies up 3-0 before the season was 10 minutes old.

The period ended with the Huskies heavily leading the Warriors in shots on goal 16-6.

In the second period, Merrimack took cues from the Huskies and found the back the back of the net to close the gap to one point before the middle frame’s end.

At 4:20, sophomore forward Quinn Gould took a pass from senior right wing John Heffernan for his first goal of the season. Merrimack added their second of the night at 15:08 from sophomore left winger Justin Mansfield.

The two goals allowed by senior goaltender Chris Rawlings were aside from the 11 saves the Warriors forced him to make.

After trailing in shots on goal in the second and third periods, the Huskies caught a breathe of relief in the form of a cushioning goal from senior right wing Robbie Vrolyk with an empty netter at 19:10 in the third period.

Check back tomorrow for a complete coverage of your Northeastern Huskies.