by Jack Hodge, news staff
It was an incredibly successful week for the Northeastern University women’s hockey team. They faced off against the University of Connecticut (UConn), their first opponent in the NCAA Hockey East tournament, on Friday and beat them 6-2. NU came back for more on Saturday when they brought home another win over UConn and advanced to next weekend’s semifinals.
The first game started with a quick goal from senior defender Heather Mottau. Junior forward Denisa Krizova took a wrist shot at the net and Mottau pushed forward and scored off the rebound. The first period was then filled with back and forth turnovers, each team unable to score.
The 1-0 score did not prevent the Huskies from furthering their lead in the second period. A crowd in front of the net did not stop a shot fired from freshman defender Paige Capistran finding the back of the net. UConn retaliated later in the period, a quick shot from the center of Northeastern’s defensive zone brought the score to 2-1 heading into the third.
NU displayed their dominance during the third period of the match, scoring four goals during the period. Expertly intercepting a pass gave freshman forward Maddie Hartman the opportunity to fire the puck past the UConn goalie.
Next, it was sophomore forward Kasidy Anderson’s turn to score. Taking advantage of a pass by freshman forward Andrea Renner, Anderson sailed the puck right over the goalie’s pads. UConn responded with a rebound goal. The Red and Black ended the game with two empty net goals: the first scored by senior forward Hayley Scamurra, followed by Anderson who scored her second goal of the game and finalized the score 6-2.
Head coach Dave Flint spoke about the up-and-down nature of the game.
“[It was a] good first period. We took our foot off the gas in the second,” he said. “Credit to UConn, after we went up 2-0, they took the momentum back. They got a goal there and made it a game into the third period.”
On Saturday, both sets of Huskies decided who would be going to semi-finals the next weekend. Anderson gave her team a head start, scoring the first goal of the game during a powerplay. NU perhaps got too comfortable with the lead, because later in the period UConn intercepted a pass and made the score 1-1 going into the second period.
The second period was an an equal battle between the two teams. The Red and Black grabbed the lead with Mottau catching a pass from Krizova and sailing the puck right between UConn’s goalie’s pads. This lead was temporary, however, because soon afterward UConn evened the score with a deflection finding its way past Bugalski’s pads. A 2-2 score put the pressure on both teams heading into the third period.
It was an even match as both teams were fighting for survival. Neither team was able to score throughout the entire third period, taking the game into overtime, when Northeastern rose to the challenge. An expertly fired shot by Scamurra gave Krizova the opportunity to slam in a rebound and send the NU to the semifinals.
“With all the points she’s had, this might be one she really remembers,” Flint said in response to Krizova’s goal.
This was Krizova’s first overtime collegiate goal and the first big win for Northeastern in the Hockey East tournament. Flint was impressed by his team’s performance in this pivotal game.
“I was proud of their effort getting it done in [overtime]. They didn’t panic,” he said. “UConn gave us everything we could handle and they came out hard. They had nothing to lose and we battled with them every step of the way.”
Northeastern will be taking on Boston University this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Walter Brown Arena to decide who qualifies for the finals of the NCAA women’s Hockey East tournament.
Photo by Dylan Shen
