By Matt Foster

Despite being in the midst of a three-game losing streak, the women’s hockey team remains optimistic about the season.

“It’s important to remember that it’s still early,” captain and junior forward Amy Goodney said. “The team has to keep practicing and working hard; we must remain optimistic about the season.”

The Huskies (1-6-1, 1-3-1 Hockey East) came up short against first-place Boston University (4-2 HE) Oct. 26 at Matthews Arena. Junior forward Ashley Bielawski kept the game interesting with goals in the second and third periods, her second and third tallies of the season, but BU goalie Alysse Wilcox and her 26 saves kept the Huskies at bay.

“It’s really disappointing,” sophomore forward Nikki Petrich said. “It doesn’t reflect how we played. We were together as a whole, we’re getting the opportunities and we’re just not capitalizing.”

The schedule remained tough, as the Huskies played a home-and-home series against the 2005 HE champion Providence Friars (3-1-1, 2-1-0). Northeastern lost both games to the defending champs, first at home Oct. 29, 5-1, and then 6-1 in Providence Oct. 30.

Friar junior defenseman Kristin Gigliotti set the pace early, scoring twice in a span of 17 seconds as part of Providence’s four-goal first period.

Junior forward Crystal Rochon scored Northeastern’s only goal 6:36 into the third.

Sunday brought more of the same for the Huskies, as the Friars scored six times despite 31 saves from redshirt freshman Sarah Belliveau. Rochon again scored the only goal for Northeastern, her third of the season, 25 seconds into the second period, off assists by Petrich and Goodney.

“We’re still ranked fourth,” Goodney said. “There are a lot of games left. We’ve played only four games, so there’s plenty of time. We have to keep our heads up, keep working the system. Sooner or later, things will start clicking. If one line gets things going, everyone else will.”