By Matt Foster
The Northeastern women’s hockey team has set the tone for an important season in a big way.
In the first ever varsity matchup against Boston University Friday (the Terriers to this point have always been a club team), the Huskies used a slick offense and a dominant goalie to defeat their crosstown rivals 4-3.
Caroline Bourdeau scored the first goal in BU history with 11:32 remaining in the first, when she deked NU senior goalie Marisa Hourihan after taking a pass from Maeghan Ouimet.
Freshman forward Ashley Bielawski tied the score seven minutes later, flicking a wrist shot past BU goalie Ashley Wilcox on the near side.
Captain Amy Goodney scored a goal at the 6:30 mark of the second period when sophomore Nikki Petrich found her wide open in front of the goal. NU added to its lead 14:43 into the second when freshman Cassie Sperry passed the puck to junior forward Jessica Coppney behind the goal. The Cushing Academy grad made a beauty of a goal, coming around the net and sending the puck over the goalie.
BU inched closer when Genevieve Lang took a pass from Caitlin Reddy and rifled a shot past Hourihan 19:10 into the second.
“We played a solid first two periods, but in the third we were relaxed and playing smarter and safer hockey,” coach Laura Schuler said. “We focused on getting a lot of shots off early on in the game.”
Northeastern scored the game-winner at 5:32 into the third. Junior forward Crystal Rochon scored when freshman defender Erin Reil’s shot was partially deflected by a BU defender. BU came back at 16:30 into the third when Gina Kearns scored shorthanded. The Huskies looked together for the most part, keeping an even level of intensity throughout the game. However, an 0 for 8 performance on power plays and a defense that often looked physically outmatched has left the team in need of improvement.
“There was just too many penalties, no opportunities in the other zone,” Schuler explained. “There are a lot of things our team is good at. We have a lot of offense but defensively we need to learn the little things, like taking the body of an opponent. Doing the simple things leads to winning.”
