By: Julianne Desjardins, news correspondent
The Northeastern University women’s hockey team maintained its winning streak with a weekend sweep over Merrimack College.
The last time the Huskies faced Merrimack on Oct. 28, they suffered a loss, but were able to secure two wins off of them this time around.
On Friday afternoon, Merrimack’s sophomore forward Paige Voight struck first with the only goal in the first period.
The Huskies didn’t let that get them down for too long and scored within the first five minutes of the second period, with a goal from freshman forward Andrea Renner. Her goal was assisted by freshman forward Matti Hartman and junior center Halle Silva.
Voight continued to be a thorn in the Huskies’ side, scoring again in the third period to give Merrimack a 2-1 lead over the Huskies.
The Huskies fought back, though, and scored three straight goals in the third period.
The first came from junior left wing Denisa Krizova shortly after Voight scored hers. Freshman defenseman Codie Cross and junior forward McKenna Brand also scored, propelling the Huskies to a 4-2 win over Merrimack.
The Huskies returned home for another showdown against Merrimack on Saturday.
They hit the ground running on Saturday, with Brand scoring within the first minute of the first period. Brand also scored again at the end of the period, with assists from Krizova and Matti Hartman.
Silva scored in the second period to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead over Merrimack.
Merrimack scored in the last minute of the second period, when a goal from Jessica Bonfe put them on the board.
The Huskies scored once more in the third period with a goal from Renner, which was assisted by Silva and junior center Shelby Herrington.
Merrimack scored the final goal of the game with just 15 seconds left in regulation with another goal from Voight.
“We competed harder,” Coach David Flint said after the game, in comparison to their loss to Merrimack a couple of weeks ago. “We’re still not executing great […], but we got some goals from different players, which was good to see.”
The Huskies got more good news regarding their team on Monday. Kendall Coyne, a Northeastern alumna who played for the women’s hockey team, was named Best Female Athlete at The Globies, an awards show hosted by the Boston Globe.
Coyne was also awarded the 2016 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award and was named a Top 30 finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year in October.
Photo courtesy Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics