By Sara Shaker, News Correspondent 

Junior defenseman Colleen Murphy scored Northeastern’s second goal against Boston University, but it was not enough to carry the team to the Hockey East Final. The Huskies lost 3-2 against BU on Saturday, March 8 in Hyannis.

Northeastern started the Hockey East playoffs strong, winning its quarterfinal game against the University of Connecticut 2-1 on Friday, February 28.

The Huskies had 13 shots on goal in the first period and seven shots on goal in the second, however both teams were scoreless until the third period.

Connecticut finally broke through, with a goal scored by forward Rebecca Fleming six minutes into the third period.

“As we got down to the 5-minute, 4-minute mark, I thought maybe it wasn’t our night,” head coach Dave Flint told GoNU.com. “We were throwing a lot at the net and it just wasn’t going in.”

Finally, the Huskies turned things around. Senior defenseman Sonia St. Martin scored a power play goal with 2:24 left in the game. Freshman forward Hayley Scamurra won the faceoff in the UConn zone, passing it back to St. Martin at the point. St. Martin walked across the blue line, into the high slot and ripped a shot into the net.

Just over a minute later, redshirt-senior forward Brittany Esposito scored the game-winning goal with 1:01 left in the game. Esposito picked up the puck off the boards in the UConn zone, stickhandling around defensemen into the slot, and taking a shot in front of the net.

A 2-1 victory against Connecticut marked the team’s 11th-straight win against UConn and moved NU on to face Boston University in the semifinals of the playoffs.

With a scoreless first period against BU, both teams were fighting for a goal to earn a spot in the finals. In the second period, both teams began heating up.

BU scored first with a power play goals from sophomore Sarah Lefort at 5:57 in the second period and sophomore Rebecca Russo at 8:58 in the period.

Minutes later, NU was back in it with a goal scored by redshirt-senior forward Kelly Wallace. Freshman defenseman Heather Mottau took a shot that wouldn’t have made it past the goal line had it not been for Wallace, jamming the loose puck into the net to make the score 2-1.

With just over a minute left in the second period, forward Maddie Elia scored BU’s third goal.

The Huskies battled to tie up the game in the third period. At the 15:13, freshman forward Melissa Haganey won a faceoff to freshman forward Hayley Masters, who took a shot that rebounded to Murphy. Murphy took another shot from the right circle, scoring Northeastern’s second goal.

NU fought to put another one past BU, but the Terriers came out with the victory, putting the Huskies’ season to an end before moving on to beat Boston College in the finals 3-2 on Sunday.

“I thought we played well. We played well enough to win. [BU’s] goalie was the difference,” Flint said. “We had lots of good chances and I am pleased with the team’s overall effort. They battled right until the end. Unfortunately, it just didn’t go our way.”

Northeastern ended its 2013-2014 season with an overall record of 19-4-2 and conference record of 13-6-2. The Huskies scored a total of 94 goals, 17 of which were power play goals.

After a season of low numbers and several player injuries, Coach Flint said he is content.

“For us to get 19 wins and tie for second, I’m pleased with the way the season went,” Flint said.

Wallace was the team leader in goals with 19, and the leader in points with 32. Esposito won Warrior Hockey Player of the Week twice.

Five players were honored as Hockey East All-Stars. Mottau was named a Hockey East First-Team All-Star, Esposito and Wallace were named Second-Team All-Stars, and Murphy and senior forward Katie MacSorley had Honorable Mentions.

Mottau and Scamurra were named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team. With five goals and 14 assists, Mottau was the top scoring rookie defenseman in Hockey East. Scamurra had seven goals and 15 assists.

“We had some freshmen that stepped up. Scamurra stepped up and really found her groove second semester,” Flint to GoNU.com. “The seniors provided good leadership. [Junior goaltender] Chloe Desjardin, when we had a short roster, was great in net and gave us [chances] to win.

The Huskies are losing seven seniors, including senior captain defenseman Maggie Brennolt, senior forward Claire Santostefano, senior goaltender Kesley O’Sullivan, St. Martin, Esposito, Wallace and MacSorley.

“It’s going to be tough to replace those seven seniors,” Flint told GoNU.com. “We have a recruiting class of nine coming in and Kendall [Coyne] coming back. I like our class coming in.”

“I think it’s going to be a different team dynamic with a lot of the new faces,” Flint said. “It’ll be a challenge.”