By Sara Shaker, news staff
Northeastern women’s hockey faced two Beantown rivals this week, losing to Boston College (BC) 6-1 on Saturday at home, and defeating Boston University (BU) 6-3 Tuesday at Walter Brown Arena.
The rivalry was fierce on Saturday against BC. The last time Northeastern and BC matched up was in the 2014 Women’s Beanpot Final in February, where the Eagles defeated the Huskies 3-0. Saturday’s game ended in favor of the Eagles once again.
“We were missing our top four players, they were missing their top five players,” Head Coach Dave Flint said. “But anytime you play BC, you know that you get fired up.”
The absent Northeastern players were competing with their national teams at the time. Junior forwards Kendall Coyne and Paige Savage were playing with Team USA in Kamloops, British Columbia, for the 2014 Four Nations Cup.
Redshirt junior forward Lucie Povova and freshman forward Denisa Krizova were playing with the Czech Republic National Team in Yokohama, Japan, for the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship Qualification Series.
Both teams were flying, living up to the rivalry and coming out hungry for a win. Within the first 17 seconds of the game, BC received a penalty and less than two minutes later, Northeastern got one of its own. Tensions were high between the competitors.
“The energy was good at the beginning of the game, and I was optimistic, but you know, once again, we didn’t execute,” Flint said.
As the first period went on, BC began to pick things up a bit more, outshooting Northeastern. With 41 seconds left in the period, BC junior defenseman Lexi Bender took a shot from the right point, which was deflected off the left post by senior forward Emily Field and towards sophomore forward Kristyn Capizzano. Capizzano hit the puck into the net to put BC ahead.
Seven and a half minutes into the second period, BC senior forward Kate Leary scored a goal from just outside the crease to make the lead 2-0.
Unhappy with the score, sophomore defender Heather Mottau put Northeastern on the board. Freshman forward Taytum Clairmont took a shot and Mottau flipped a rebound up to score at the 13:45 mark.
Just under three minutes later, Leary replied with another BC point, taking a shot that deflected off a Northeastern skate into the net.
The Eagles did not stop there. With 29 seconds left in the second period, Field tipped a shot in from freshman defenseman Kali Flanagan. The second period ended 4-1, with BC in the lead.
Northeastern put sophomore goaltender Sarah Foss in the net for the third period. The Huskies were disappointed with the three-goal deficit and worked hard to make a comeback, but the Eagles had no mercy.
BC scored its fifth goal at the 6:31 mark in the period. Capizzano took a shot from the right side, causing Foss to move away from the net in an attempt to stop the goal. However, the puck redirected off a Northeastern skate and slid into the open side of the net.
With under three minutes of play left in regulation, BC freshman forward Tori Sullivan came in on a breakaway and deked Foss to make the final score 6-1.
“It was just disappointing, you know?” Flint said. “I think we’re better than it showed on paper tonight.”
Although Northeastern had a tough loss on Saturday, the Huskies headed down Commonwealth Avenue on Tuesday to defeat BU 6-3.
With Northeastern looking for redemption, sophomore forward Hayley Scamurra scored the first goal of the game 4 minutes in.
BU junior forward Sarah Lefort scored for the Terriers at the 13:22 mark to make it 1-1; however, Coyne returned to the lineup, scoring three minutes later to take back the lead and keep it for the rest of the game. Coyne went on to score the fourth and sixth goal for her fifth career hat trick.
Freshman forward McKenna Brand had two goals for the Huskies at the 1:46 mark in the second period and the 4:27 mark in the third period.
BU junior forward Kayla Tutino and freshman forward Victoria Bach each had a goal in the third period. However, the Terriers could not make a comeback, and the Huskies came away with a Hockey East win and an overall record of 3-5-3.
Northeastern heads to Providence College this Saturday and will return home on Sunday to play Providence again at 2 p.m.
“Providence is struggling like us a little bit,” Flint said. “So you never know what’s going to happen, but those are two games that we need to pick up some Hockey East points.”
Photo by Krish Shah
