By Maddie Sattler, News Staff
The Northeastern women’s ice hockey team skated to two victories this weekend to improve its record to 3-1 this season.
The Huskies defeated Union Friday night, 2-1, before a win the following afternoon against the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by the same score. Although these games are non-conference, they are important for the Huskies as they see other opponents and gain confidence.
“We need to work on playing the full 60 minutes and work as a team,” Northeastern coach Dave Flint said after last week’s victory over the Rochester Institute of Technology. “We want to keep things going next weekend.”
In Friday’s game, the Huskies were down early when the Dutchmen scored 1:18 into the game. Junior goalie Chloe Desjardins bounced back from the early goal to make 10 saves in the frame. The Quebec native had 23 saves on the day.
The Union defense stifled the Northeastern attack in the first period, but the Huskies came alive in the second frame. They were able to generate plays on offense and had 10 shots on goal in the frame, but went into the first intermission with nothing to show for it.
Following a scoreless second period, redshirt senior forward Kelly Wallace put the Huskies on the board and tied the game with a goal in the third. Wallace’s goal came a man-down with an assist from sophomore forward Paige Savage. The short-handed goal was the Huskies’ third of the season.
“We have a lot of speed and we’re always going to look to take advantage in a short-handed situation,” Flint said last weekend.
With 55 seconds left in regulation, senior defender Maggie DiMasi scored the game-winner for Northeastern. Senior defender Maggie Brennolt and junior defender Colleen Murphy were credited with the assist on DiMasi’s goal.
“Coming back and winning games, that’s what we want the identity of this team to be,” Flint said after last weekend’s win.
With the momentum from Friday night’s last-minute victory, the Huskies came out Saturday hungry for another win.
Five minutes and 11 seconds into the opening period, Wallace got the Huskies out to the early lead off a pass from Murphy. Wallace’s goal was her third in as many games.
The second period was all RPI, who outshot the Huskies 14-6 in the frame, but Desjardins held things down in the net and prevented anything from going past her.
The Engineers tied things up in the third period, but the Huskies were able to come back less than four minutes later as Savage scored her second goal of the season. Freshman forward Bella Sinsigalli and freshman defender Melissa Haganey were credited with the assist. For both Sinsigalli and Haganey, the assist was the first of their collegiate careers.
“As the season moves forward, it’s important for the freshmen to get involved and getting used to things,” Flint said after the RIT win.
As time wound down Desjardins and the Northeastern defense held things down on their side of the ice.
The win was the third in a row for the Huskies and fourth on the young season. They will face Cornell next weekend for the final weekend of non-conference play.
