By Madeline Sattler, News Staff
The No. 10 women’s hockey team found a little bit of Beanpot magic Tuesday night and took its second consecutive tournament championship over a No. 2 Boston College team it had failed to defeat in all three previous meetings this season. The 4-3 Husky win brought the hardware to Huntington Avenue for the 16th time in tournament history.
Nine different Huskies tallied points and sophomore goalie Chloe Desjardins held her own in the net, stopping 36 shots.
“It was very exciting,” Desjardins said. “I feel a lot better and it’s good for my confidence too.”
Following the game Desjardins was presented with the Bertagna Award, given to the best goaltender of the tournament. Sophomore forward Kendall Coyne was named the Beanpot’s most valuable player after having five points in the tournament including a three-goal performance in the semifinal round.
“You beat the No. 2 and No. 3 team in the country, it doesn’t get much better than that,” head coach Dave Flint said. “We’ve proven that we can play with the best teams.”
But at the start, when the puck dropped, everything went wrong for the Huskies. Northeastern was unable to keep up with the Eagles in their own zone, giving BC time and space to take shots.
BC quickly capitalized taking a one-goal lead just 1:18 into the game. Freshman forward Dana Trivigno sent the puck central and it took an unlucky bounce off a Husky into the back of the net.
“I thought we came out kind of slow and I think that was due to nerves,” Flint said. “I thought that was a flukey bounce on that first goal, but I thought we settled in and I like how we competed the rest of the game.”
The Huskies’ top line of Coyne, senior Casey Pickett and senior Rachel Llanes had a couple good chances in the opening frame.
Pickett had an early breakaway, but her shot soared over the net. Llanes and Coyne had a 2-on-1 chance and the sophomore got two quick shots off, but senior goalie Corinne Boyles proved she would not go down without a fight.
The middle period saw the momentum start to shift in favor of Northeastern. Freshman forward Paige Savage sent a cross to junior defender Maggie DiMasi who was open in front of the net, but DiMasi couldn’t handle the pass and the opportunity fizzled.
Northeastern finally got on the board during a 5-on-3 power play. Freshman defender Lexi Bender was in the box for holding and senior defender Blake Bolden joined her shortly after for cross checking, giving the Huskies 1:06 of a two-man advantage.
Junior forward Brittany Esposito quickly capitalized taking the puck from Savage and shooting it over the right shoulder of Boyles for her seventh goal of the season.
“I wanted them to play with a little bit more sense of urgency on the power play and move the puck quick,” Flint said. “I thought we did a really good job and it doesn’t hurt that we had two 5-on-3s.”
Junior forward Melissa Bizzari put the Eagles on top later in the frame before Pickett scored the Huskies’ second power play goal of the game less than three minutes later to tie it.
Coyne had the original shot that bounced off Boyles and onto the stick of junior forward Kelly Wallace. Wallace’s shot was also stopped, but Pickett was able to put a rebound in the upper left corner past Boyles, who was off-balance.
Savage gave the Huskies their first lead of the game shortly thereafter.
Esposito ripped a shot that was blocked and the rebound bounced to the stick of Wallace. She flicked it to Savage at the top of the crease who knocked it under Boyles for her first career Beanpot goal.
The third period saw a lot of Eagles offense, but Desjardins came up with some big saves. She had 16 total saves in the period including an early one with three Eagles player in her face.
“Chloe made unbelievable saves and that just gave us momentum to go right back down to their end,” Coyne said.
During two early power plays, the Eagles had a few shots bounce off the post and the defense did a great job clearing those pucks away, something they struggled with earlier in the season.
Almost halfway through the final period, sophomore forward Emily Field tied the game at three with an unassisted rocket that shot under the legs of Desjardins.
“I definitely think we responded well [when BC tied it] because of our bench behavior,” Coyne said. “Our bench attitude this game was just second to none, everyone was positive no matter what.”
MacSorley scored what would be the game winner just 1:19 later. Junior defender Maggie Brennolt sent the puck to the center where MacSorley redirected it into the back of the net.
As time wound down, the Eagles continued to pepper Desjardins with shots. Sophomore defender Emily Pfalzer and Bizzari both had open shots, but Desjardins buckled down and did not let anything get through.
With just over a minute to go, the Eagles pulled Boyles for an extra attacker. But the Huskies locked down in the defensive zone to win their 16th Beanpot title and the second one in a row.
The Beanpot wins over Boston University and Boston College were the first time the Huskies have beaten either team this season in four tries.
“I think we’ve got to use this as momentum,” Flint said. “I’ve been trying to get the team to believe all year that when they play as a unit and they do what is asked of them, that they can beat anybody.”
Northeastern will be back in action this weekend at the University of Maine on Saturday afternoon. Their final regular season home game will be Feb. 24 as they host the Providence College Friars.
