By Maddie Sattler, News Staff
The women’s ice hockey team flew west to Vail, Colo. last weekend for two hard-fought matchups against the University of Wisconsin and St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in Minnesota.
The Huskies opened up the weekend Friday night with a tough 3-2 loss to the no. two-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. The following afternoon, Northeastern was on the losing end of the same result against the Huskies from St. Cloud.
“The disappointing thing was the team played so hard and things were so close that to lose in the end was tough,” coach Dave Flint said.
Redshirt senior forward Kelly Wallace scored twice over the weekend, and freshman goalie Sarah Foss got her first collegiate start on Saturday.
Wallace got the scoring started in the second period on Friday with a power play goal off the feed from senior forward Katie MacSorley. Until then, the Huskies had three power play goals for the season, all of them coming off the stick of MacSorley.
The Badgers tied things up less than three minutes later, and before sophomore defender Tori Hickel scored her first goal of the season. With the Huskies on the power play, MacSorley sent the puck to freshman forward Heather Mottau who dropped it back to Hickel. The Alaska native sent a low shot through traffic that found its way to the back of the net.
The teams went into the second intermission with the Huskies ahead, 2-1. That lead lasted until 13 minutes into the final frame when the Badgers scored on the power play.
“That tying goal with six and a half minutes left, we didn’t have video replay in Vail, but I felt that if we had video replay, that goal would’ve been overturned,” Flint said.
With the score tied, the teams battled back and forth till the very end going shot for shot until Wisconsin got one through with less than two and a half minutes left. The Huskies couldn’t respond and dropped to 5-7-1 on the season. Junior goalie Chloe Desjardins had 33 saves in the losing effort.
“I told the girls I was disappointed for them because they worked so hard and deserved a better fate,” Flint said. “It was great to see that they played right with the no. number two team in the country.”
The following afternoon, Northeastern was looking to bounce back against SCSU, but the opposing Huskies got on the board first thanks to a St. Cloud power play goal 4:16 into the first period.
Later in the first period, junior forward Chelsey Goldberg sent the puck to freshman forward Hayley Masters who redirected it into the back of the net. The goal was Masters’ first of her collegiate career and it tied the game at one.
SCSU would add another power play goal before the period came to an end, taking a 2-1 advantage into the first intermission.
“On Saturday I thought we came out slow, but really picked it up in the second and third,” Flint said. “We really played, what I thought, was pretty well.”
The second period was all Northeastern, who had 16 of their 27 shots on goal in the frame. It wasn’t long before junior defender Colleen Murphy took the puck from sophomore forward Paige Savage and launched a shot towards the net. The puck bounced off the St. Cloud goalie to the stick of Wallace, who hammered it home. However, St. Cloud would go ahead for good three minutes later.
Neither team could get much going in the final frame and the game ended with St. Cloud on top 3-2. Foss had 26 saves in her first start of the season.
“Getting a matchup with the best of those midwest teams just shows our girls that if they show up on any given night, they can play with anybody,” Flint said. “It was a good experience for them and hopefully we’ll be better from it.”
The Huskies, now 5-8-1 on the season, will travel to the University of Vermont this weekend for two games against the Catamounts.
