By Madeline Sattler, News Staff
In a preview of Tuesday’s Beanpot semifinal matchup, the Northeastern women’s ice hockey team lost 4-2 to the Boston University Terriers Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore forward Kendall Coyne and junior forward Kelly Wallace had the two goals for Northeastern, but it was not enough for the Huskies, who fell to their Hockey East rival for the third time this season.
“I thought we played pretty well,” head coach Dave Flint said. “We had a couple breakdowns and a team like that will make you pay for it.”
The Huskies had a slow start, allowing allowing a few early shots before BU junior forward Louise Warren netted the Terriers’ first goal just 45 seconds after puck drop.
Warren and teammate sophomore forward Kayla Tutino had a 2-on-1 chance against junior defender Maggie DiMasi. Tutino sent the puck past DiMasi to Warren who was waiting at the top of the crease to put it past junior goalie Kelsey O’Sullivan.
“They’re going to capitalize on our mistakes and we just need to tweak some things and play smart,” Wallace said of her team’s opponent.
The Terriers scored their second goal on the power play while freshman forward Paige Savage was sitting in the box for body checking. Freshman forward Sarah Lefort was crashing the net as the puck came to her and she pushed it past O’Sullivan.
Less than 20 seconds later, junior forward Kelly Wallace got the Huskies on the board when her linemate Junior forward Brittany Esposito sent a shot that bounced off a Terrier defender right to the stick of Wallace who redirected it on goal.
The second period saw a lot of back-and-forth action. The Huskies came out firing shots at BU goalie junior Kerrin Sperry. Savage got a couple great shots off early, but they either bounced off the post and or were stopped by Sperry.
“We were a couple crossbars and posts away from it being a tie game or a win for us,” Flint said.
Tutino and senior forward Jenelle Kohanchuk had two quick goals in the second half of the period for the Terriers, giving them a 4-1 lead.
With just over two minutes to go in the period, sophomore forward Kendall Coyne scored Northeastern’s second goal. Her original shot bounced off Sperry’s pads, but the Illinois native collected her own rebound and put a shot past the keeper.
“Overall we played well and the momentum that we have is going to take us into Tuesday,” Coyne said.
Despite a combined six minor penalties in the third period, neither team was able to capitalize and up their score.
“[The teams] get pumped up for these games,” Flint said. “I thought it was just indicative of how physical and how hard they were playing.”
The Huskies, who have been great on the power play as of late, were shut down in the special teams department and went 0-for-7 playing with an extra woman.
“0-for-7 on the power play today, I think that is the result of playing a very skilled team and a very quick team,” Coyne said.
The Terriers had the lone power play goal of the day, going one for five.
The two teams will meet up again Tuesday evening in the first round of the Beanpot tournament.
Puck drop is at 8 pm at Matthews Arena and admission is free for all students.
“We need to really dig deep; we’ve got to play for our seniors, we’ve got to play for each other,” Wallace said. “It’s not how you start the season, it’s how you end.”
