By Isabelle Hahn, news staff

Northeastern’s women’s rowing team clinched a win at the Woodbury Cup on Saturday morning, topping the Columbia Lions to remain in first place for the third year in a row.

The Woodbury Cup is named in memory of Melanie Woodbury, a 1996 Columbia graduate and rowing team captain who was killed in a car crash in 2002. The Huskies and the Lions have competed for more than two decades, but have raced against each other for the cup since 2005. Northeastern has won the Cup each year since 2015, following Columbia’s winning streak from 2010 to 2014.

The Huskies lead the all-time series, 18-8, including an 8-5 mark in the cup race.

“The Woodbury Cup is always a special event because of the significance of the cup,” said Northeastern’s senior captain Heather Foti. “There is always a little pressure before any race, but having a winning streak does add a little extra incentive to make sure we have a great race.”

The cross-headwinds at Overpeck County Park in Ridgefield, New Jersey made for choppy conditions, but junior coxswain Haley Doucette steered the varsity eight toward victory. They moved out over the first 500 meters to secure a comfortable lead before gaining momentum through the last 1,500 meters.

The Huskies finished with a time of 6 minutes, 50.1 seconds, besting Columbia by six seconds.

“We train in all kinds of weather and are usually well prepared for anything,” Foti said. “Our coach always says that rough weather is considered ‘Husky Conditions.’”

The second varsity eight took a 3.4 second win over Columbia, taking a little longer than the first varsity to secure a lead. The Huskies rowed ahead around the 750 meter mark, finishing with a time of 7:01.7.

“I like the way our crews handled the conditions,” said Northeastern head coach Joe Wilhelm. “Most of our crews had a good start and were aggressive at the beginning of the race. I want more of a killer instinct in the middle, some races were closer than they should have been.”

The only victory Columbia claimed on Saturday was in the varsity four, beating the Huskies by less than a second in the last few strokes. The Huskies (7:50.25) were ahead four seats before the last 500 meters when the Lions (7:49.4) walked through to win. The second varsity four followed with a two second lead over the lions with a time of 8:19.5.

“The [varsity four] race was pretty close from start to finish. We made a couple of lineup changes due to illness, that affected it the most,” Wilhelm said. Columbia fought all the way down the race course.”

Northeastern will face Columbia and other crews again in the Eastern Sprints on April 30 in Worcester, Massachusetts. When it comes to sprints, Wilhelm said the Huskies are focused on the best way to get down the course, not on the competition.

The Huskies will be off this weekend before facing Michigan State and Boston University (BU) on April 22 in their only home race of the spring season.

“We’re training pretty hard this week, working on longer distance and getting ready for Michigan State and BU,” Wilhelm said.