By Sara Shaker, news staff
The Northeastern women’s hockey team ended this weekend with a 4-0 win on Friday followed by a 4-2 loss on Saturday, both against Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa.
“I really liked the way we played Friday,” Head Coach Dave Flint said. “We need that consistency on back-to-back nights.”
In its first win of the season, Northeastern was aggressive right from the start.
“We came out strong, we didn’t let up,” freshman defenseman Lauren Kelly, who scored the game-winner in Friday’s game, said. “We just kept attacking.”
While neither team put up a point in the first period, Northeastern changed that quickly in the second. A minute and a half in, Mercyhurst junior forward Hannah Bale received a two-minute penalty for tripping. Teammates celebrated when Kelly took advantage of the power play 27 seconds later. Freshman defenseman Ainsley MacMillan passed to Kelly, who took a slap shot over the glove of Mercyhurst junior goaltender Amanda Makela.
“It felt awesome,” Kelly said after scoring her first collegiate goal.
On Monday, MacMillan was named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week in Hockey East.
The Huskies continued their momentum, scoring another goal less than three minutes later. Senior forward Chelsiea Goll took a shot off a breakaway, which deflected off the post into the slot. Junior forward Paige Savage was right there and able to pick up the rebound, throwing the puck past Makela for Northeastern’s second goal.
In the third period, Northeastern kept things going. With assists from junior forward Kendall Coyne and sophomore forward Hayley Scamurra, MacMillan took a shot from the middle, scoring her first collegiate goal. The puck ricocheted off a Mercyhurst defenseman and past Makela seven minutes into the period.
Up by three points, the Huskies did not stop there. At the 18:12 mark, Mercyhurst pulled its goalie while on a power play. Even with a 6-on-4 advantage for the Lakers, Northeastern was still able to put one in. After numerous shots by Mercyhurst and some aggressive defense from Northeastern, Coyne picked up a loose puck and shot on the empty net with 14 seconds left in the game. Coyne’s goal made the final score 4-0.
“We played a full 60 minutes like coach wanted,” Kelly said. “We gave our best and that resulted in the score.”
Flint was satisfied with the teamwork shown in the game.
“I thought we played really well on Friday,” he said. “We had a good effort from everybody, and it showed on the scoreboard. On Saturday we had a good effort from not everybody [sic]. We were a little bit inconsistent.”
Mercyhurst came out stronger in the second after another scoreless first period from both teams. At the 8:13 mark in the period, Bale scored for the host team.
“We started out okay, and in the second period we all got a little down and tired and fatigued,” Kelly said. “Our intensity dropped a little bit.”
Ending the second period a goal down, Northeastern looked for a comeback in the third. Freshman forward Halle Silva tied the game at the 10:53 mark, with assists from freshman forward Taytum Clairmont and freshman forward Denisa Krizova.
The tie did not last long though. A minute and a half later, sophomore forward Shelby Bram scored to give Mercyhurst the lead back. However, Kelly responded 40 seconds later with a shot from the point to tie the game again at 2-2.
After fighting to catch up, the Huskies could not take the lead. Two minutes later, Mercyhurst scored its third goal. Sophomore freshman Jaclyn Arbour deked Husky senior goaltender Chloe Desjardins to make the score 3-2.
With time winding down in the game, Northeastern pulled Desjardins to gain an offensive advantage. Mercyhurst freshman forward Emily Janiga took control, scoring on the Huskies’ empty net to make the final score 4-2.
“We didn’t play together, which was one of the main reasons why we had the outcome we did,” Kelly said.
Despite the loss, Desjardins made a total of 54 saves throughout the weekend, including her eighth career shutout on Friday.
This week in practice, the Huskies hope to make some improvements for their next games.
“We’re going to make a couple tweaks to our system. We still need to make improvements to power plays,” Flint said. “[We need to] fine-tune some things in all three zones.”
Kelly agreed that the team needs to stay determined in order to win games.
“If we keep working hard and [keep] up the intensity, we’ll improve,” Kelly said.
Northeastern continues play next weekend on the road for two games against Robert Morris University on Oct. 24 and 25 in Moon Township, Pa.
“If we play how we did Friday night, we’ll see success,” Flint said. “If we play inconsistently, we won’t. We’re looking for two wins, and hopefully we’ll take care of business when we get out there.”
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics
