By Madeline Sattler, News Staff
The women’s hockey team’s offense exploded against the University of Connecticut as seven goal scorers combined for 14 goals in a sweep of the weekend’s home-and-home series.
Sophomore forward Kendall Coyne connected for two goals in Friday’s 5-2 win at UConn. With four goals and two assists, senior forward Casey Pickett led the team to a 9-1 victory at Matthews Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Pickett is playing in her fourth and final season at Northeastern, while serving as tri-captain for the second year.
“[Pickett’s] been great; she’s a leader, she’s one of our captains and she was our second leading scorer last year, so we count on her,” head coach Dave Flint said.
Northeastern swept the weekend’s home-and-home series with the rival Huskies, improving to 7-1-1 on the season and 3-1-0 against Women’s Hockey East Association teams.
Pickett and the Northeastern offense dominated Saturday. The Wilmington native scorer doubled her points total for the season (12).
“I was having a good day today,” Pickett said on Saturday. “Obviously a lot of it goes to my linemates; they got me the puck in the right spots.”
Pickett’s first contribution came less than five minutes into the game. She sent the puck from the left side towards the net where senior forward Rachel Llanes put the shot on goal.
UConn tied it up shortly before Coyne put Northeastern up for good on a power play.
Before the first period came to an end, the home team Huskies would score three more goals, two of which came from Pickett’s stick.
“[Pickett] knows day in and day out we are expecting her on the score sheet,” Flint said. “But I think she’s doing a lot of things better now especially defensively.”
Sophomore defender Colleen Murphy scored her first goal of the season off an assist from Pickett and Coyne at 15:52 in the first, putting the home team up by two. Less than three minutes later, Pickett scored her first goal of the game as Pickett and Coyne took advantage of a two-on-one opportunity for an 4-1 lead.
Freshman forward Tori Hickel added the final goal of the period, extending the Red and Black’s cushion to four goals.
“We moved the puck exceptionally well in the first and that’s why we had as many opportunities as we did,” Pickett said.
Pickett picked up where she left off scoring her second goal 1:23 into the middle frame. Linemates Llanes and Coyne got the assist on the play.
“I can’t say enough about playing with Rachel [Llanes] and Kendall [Coyne],” Picket said. “I’m kind of the beneficiary of their hard work sometimes.”
Later in the frame, Pickett took a pass from sophomore defender Leanne Gallant and carried all the way down the ice to score her third goal. This was the second hat trick of Pickett’s career.
“[Pickett] worked hard all the way up to this point and she deserved it,” Llanes said. “She worked hard for each goal.”
With junior forward Katie MacSorley sitting in the penalty box, Pickett’s third goal came on the penalty kill. Last season, Pickett led the Women’s Hockey East Association with short-handed goals scored and was second in short handed points.
Her final goal of the game came in the third period. Coyne’s shot bounced off UConn goalie junior Sarah Moses and Pickett was there to put the rebound in the back of the net.
Pickett’s four goal performance made her the first Husky to score four goals since Brooke Whitney did so Jan. 27, 2002.
“[Pickett] deserves it, she works so hard in every practice and everyday,” sophomore goalie Chloe Desjardins said. “She’s a great captain on the ice and off the ice.”
Senior forward Kelly Wallace added the final Northeastern goal. The nine-goal game was the most Northeastern has scored in an NCAA game since Dec. 30, 1999.
“It was good to see,” Flint said. “There aren’t too many games where that many pucks go in the back of the net.”
The victory was less than 24 hours after Northeastern defeated UConn, 5-2, Friday night in Storrs, Conn.
Although Pickett did not tally any points in the victory, she did contribute to the win and recorded four shots on goal.
“[Pickett] was doing a lot of little things right and had a great game, but didn’t show up on the score sheet,” Flint said.
Coyne led the offense Friday with two goals and one assist. Llanes, MacSorley and freshman forward Paige Savage also scored for Northeastern.
Following the weekend, Pickett was named Women’s Hockey East Co-Player of the Week. She now has 12 points and is tied for second highest on the team and fifth most among WHEA players.
Pickett and the Huskies are back on the ice this weekend with two home games against the University of Vermont Catamounts beginning Saturday at 2 p.m.
