By Sara Shaker, News Correspondent
Redshirt-senior forward Brittany Esposito, scored two goals to help the Northeastern women’s hockey team defeat Boston University 4-2 on Sunday at Walter Brown Arena.
“I thought it was a great team win,” head coach Dave Flint said. “We played well for 60 minutes, and even though we ran out of gas a little bit in the third, we hung on and did what we needed to do to get the win.”
The game remained scoreless until the second period when redshirt-senior forward Kelly Wallace scored her 10th goal of the season. Wallace took the puck into BU’s defensive zone, passing it to sophomore forward Paige Savage. Savage then took a shot on net, which Wallace was able to redirect past BU’s goaltender.
“We played one of the best [games] we’ve played. We knew they were going to come out hard because they previously lost,” Savage said. “My line, we work really great together.”
Savage had two assists in addition to her goal.
“[Savage] has been due for a while,” Flint said. “She’s had a lot of opportunities lately and they fell for her today. She’s been working hard, so it’s good to see her get the goal.”
The Huskies were able to push their lead to 2-0 with a goal from Savage 47 seconds into period. Senior Katie MacSorley snagged the puck from a BU player in the offensive zone and passed it across the net to Savage, who was able to bury it.
“MacSorley beat the D out of the corner and made a beautiful pass, and she put it right on my stick and I put it over the goalie,” Savage said.
The Terriers came out hungry in the third looking to make a comeback. Senior Louise Warren put BU on the scoreboard a little under five minutes into the period. But the Huskies did not let the Terriers keep the momentum for long and capitalized on a power play with NU’s third goal. Esposito scored off a rebound from Savage, giving NU a 3-1 lead.
With game time running out, sophomore Sarah Lefort responded with a goal for BU in the last few minutes of play. However, junior defender Colleen Murphy and Esposito did not want to end the game without their two goal lead. BU pulled its goalie with a minute and a half left to play, fighting to tie up the game. Esposito took advantage of the empty net, scoring the final goal of the game, with the assist from Murphy.
With two goals scored against BU and a goal and an assist in Wednesday’s game against University of Connecticut, Esposito was named Warrior Hockey Player of the Week in Hockey East. After sitting out for a few games in the beginning of the season, Esposito was eager to get back on the ice.
“Her watching [games] made her realize how much more she wanted to be on the ice,” Savage said. “Ever since she’s been back, she’s had some great games. It was well deserved and about time she got recognized for something.”
After its first win over a top 10 team this season, Northeastern was named Hockey East Team of the Week.
“The second semester so far we have played our type of hockey,” Savage said. “We’ve been working as a team. If we keep doing what we’re doing and working as a team and for each other, we will be fine.”
The Huskies take on University of Maine this weekend on Friday 7 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. at Matthews Arena. Friday’s game will be the team’s annual Skating Strides for Breast Cancer Awareness to raise awareness and money for the cause.
