By Sara Shaker, News Correspondent
The women’s hockey team earned its third and fourth-straight wins last weekend defeating the University of Maine in an overtime victory on Friday and an 8-2 victory on Saturday at Matthews Arena.
The two teams met for the second and third times this season, after previously tying in a game back in November. In Friday’s game, redshirt-senior forward Kelly Wallace scored the game winner in overtime, giving the Huskies a 4-3 win. Senior captain defenseman Maggie Brennolt, freshman defenseman Heather Mottau and redshirt-senior forward Brittany Esposito recorded one goal each to help NU come out with a win.
“That was a really hard fought game. I think both teams played well,” Esposito said. “We didn’t get down on ourselves. So it was a really solid team effort.”
Friday’s game may have been a close one, but Saturday’s game was a different story.
“It’s great to see eight goals. We haven’t done that in a while,” head coach Dave Flint said. “Finally to see us get some breaks and have some pucks go in and get a couple bounces, it felt pretty good.”
Both teams came out flying in the first period, but it was Northeastern that put away the first goal of the high-scoring game. Esposito scored two minutes in off a pass from sophomore forward Tori Hickel.
“The first [goal] was just a great forecheck from [Hickel],” Esposito said. “[Maine] kind of coughed the puck up. I tried to get a shot on net, it got blocked, and I just whacked at it and it went in.”
After winning Warrior Hockey Player of the Week last week, Esposito continued to get multiple points per game.
“It’s really nice to get that kind of recognition,” Esposito said. “I was going through a bit of a rough patch, and it was nice to just be able to contribute.”
Northeastern increased its lead in the second period. Freshman forward Melissa Haganey scored eight minutes into the second period, with the assists from freshman forward Hayley Masters and junior defenseman Colleen Murphy.
“The first period we came out fast, and then we kind of sat back,” Flint said. “I felt they weren’t putting in their best effort. They came out in the second, and gave me a good effort.”
Murphy kept things going with a shot from the point about 30 seconds later. Esposito, who was in front of the goal, deflected the shot, giving the Huskies their third goal of the game.
Northeastern lost its opportunity for a shutout with a goal scored by Maine’s sophomore Abbey Cook a few minutes later. But just when Maine began to pick up the momentum, the Huskies scored another goal at the end of the second period. Northeastern’s fourth goal was scored by freshman forward Hayley Scamurra, assisted by Hickel. This was Scamurra’s fourth goal of the season.
NU started the third period with its fifth goal scored by junior forward Chelsey Goldberg, assisted by Hayley Masters. The Black Bears were fighting for a comeback, but redshirt-senior forward Kelly Wallace was not going to let the other team have it.
With a pass from sophomore forward Paige Savage, Wallace carried the puck from behind the goal line and in front of the net to slide it right past Maine’s goaltender.
Senior forward Katie MacSorley faced her sister, Kelsey, a sophomore on Maine’s team, in this past weekend’s games. Kelsey MacSorley was able to prove herself to her older sister with a goal for Maine, making the score 6-2.
The Huskies kept their scoring streak going one minute later with a goal scored by Savage, assisted by senior defenseman Sonia St. Martin and Masters.
With 34 seconds left in the game, Wallace made the final score 8-2 with another goal for the Huskies, scoring her 13th goal of the season.
With numerous points tallied by freshmen, Flint said he feels they are really helping the team out.
“Our freshman are contributing,” he said. “Going into the second period it was only a 1-0 game and [the freshmen] kind of sparked us. They kept it going all game and did a really good job.”
The Huskies hope to get their fifth straight win this Saturday against the University of Vermont at 2 p.m. at Matthews Arena.
“It’s going to take all three lines and all four [defensemen],” Esposito said. “So I think we just need to focus on sticking together and working hard.”
