By Maddie Sattler, News Staff
In their opening weekend of the season, the Northeastern women’s ice hockey team skated to a 1-1 record, losing to Syracuse University on Friday night before defeating Rochester Institute of Technology Saturday.
On Friday, the Huskies stayed with the Orange for two-thirds of the game thanks to a goal by senior defender Maggie Brennolt. But a three-goal third period sealed the deal for Syracuse who went on to win 4-1.
Saturday’s game saw a lot of up and down action, but two goals by junior forward Chelsey Goldberg and a late score by sophomore forward Paige Savage pushed the Huskies past RIT 5-4.
“The team showed me their character coming back,” head coach Dave Flint said. “We’ve still got a long ways to go.”
Goldberg got the scoring started Saturday while her teammate sophomore defender Jordan Hampton was sitting in the penalty box. The California native intercepted a Tiger clear and took it straight to the goal uncontested. She pushed the puck over the shoulder of RIT goalie, junior Ali Binnington.
The goal was the first of Goldberg’s career and put the Huskies up 1-0.
“[Goldberg] has been fighting injuries for the last two years and she’s healthy now,” Flint said. “She stepped up at the right time and we needed it. Hopefully it’s going to continue.”
Junior goalie Chloe Desjardins held things down in the first and the teams headed to the locker room with Northeastern up 1-0.
7:24 into the second period, the Tigers tied things up. But less than three minutes later, junior forward Chelsiea Goll put Northeastern ahead off a Goldberg assist.
Goldberg then added her second shorthanded goal of the season. Senior forward Claire Santostefano was looking for the shot, but her angle was cut off. She sent the puck to Goldberg who was cutting towards the net and made it a 3-1 score.
“Coach drew up a little bit of some plays before the game and he told us exactly what their game plan looked to be,” Goldberg said. “I just executed what he told me to do.”
After two Tiger goals, the teams headed to the locker room with the score deadlocked at three.
A little more than five minutes into the third period, the Tigers scored their fourth goal of the game to take their first lead on the afternoon.
The Huskies remained calm, kept to their game plan and were able to tie things up quickly. Redshirt senior forward Kelly Wallace got the puck in front of the net and sent it past Binnington tying things at four.
The final goal of the afternoon came off the stick of Savage. Freshman forward Hayley Masters won the faceoff and crossed the puck to the middle where Savage finished the play.
Desjardins made 23 saves and earned the win. Following the weekend, Goldberg was named Hockey East Co-Player of the Week. She had two goals and an assist Saturday afternoon to go along with an assist Friday night.
“I think if we always come back in the third period or throughout the game and we have a team effort from the goal line out, we’re going to be successful this year,” Goldberg said.
The Huskies will be on the road this weekend to take on Union College Friday afternoon and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday.
