Northeastern University’s head field hockey coach Cheryl Murtagh believes redshirt senior captain Jamie Bartucca is underrated.
“She kind of goes under the radar,” Murtagh said. “I don’t think people really know about Jamie [Bartucca].”
But if the Connecticut native’s performance this weekend was any indication, it would be in the best interest of Husky fans and foes alike to start paying attention.
“Jamie [Bartucca] just works hard,” Murtagh said. “I love her work ethic. Obviously she has some good skills in front of the goal — she did that last year.”
Bartucca burst onto the scene in 2016, leading the team with 10 goals, connecting on nearly half of her 23 shots on goal. This season, Bartucca played the hero against Quinnipiac University Sept. 1, scoring both goals in the 2-1 defeat including the game-winner with 53 seconds remaining on the clock. She scored twice against Bryant University in August. But after a quiet stretch, Bartucca came out full-force in last weekend’s Ivy League matchups, scoring a pair of goals in both games to claim her position as the team’s goal-scoring leader with eight so far in the premature season.
“I think just team energy and coming off a tough loss, I wanted to step out there this weekend and just give it all I’ve got,” Bartucca said. “I think as a team we all stepped it up this week, so just having them to support me and be there behind the goals is very helpful.”
The Huskies fought through monsoon-like wind and rain to no avail Friday night, falling to Harvard 7-3. The Crimson scored four times in the opening ten minutes of the game, adding a fifth point at the end of the first half and two more in the second round of play.
“The first 10 minutes got away from us, I think,” Murtagh said. “You can’t do that, I hope it’s a mistake we don’t make, where you don’t start off strong. We let them come at us and it’s just something we don’t want to do again.”
Freshman Camille O’Conor had assists on two goals by Bartucca. The forward pair put the Huskies on the board in the 19th minute as Bartucca sent a pass from O’Conor flying high over Harvard senior goalkeeper Olivia Startup, who had two saves on the day.
The pair reappeared in the 52nd minute when O’Conor passed from the top of the circle to an eager Bartucca, who sent the ball in from the left side of the net to cut the Huskies deficit to four.
On a penalty corner just three minutes later, junior forward Laura MacLachlan sent a hard drive into the back of the net off a pass from sophomore midfielder Meg Barrett for Northeastern’s final scoring play of the day.
Harvard notched one more in the final 10 minutes of play to secure the 7-3 defeat. Freshman Julia Gluyas, who replaced freshman Julia Ennis in net after Harvard’s early four-goal marathon, was credited with five saves on the day.
“It’s more of a mental thing trying to get ourselves back on track,” Murtagh said of the aftermath of the loss. “We need to do better on defense.”
After a brief one-day reset, the Huskies took the field in Dedham again Sunday afternoon, hungry for redemption and their first win at home against the Brown University Bears. The teams had not met since 2008, when Northeastern bested Brown 7-1. The Huskies outshot the visitor 25-5 Sunday, pushing ahead 4-1 over the Bears.
“We said it right before the game,” said Bartucca, who also starred in Sunday’s meeting. “We’re like, ‘This is our field, we’re coming off with a win today, so let’s defend our field.’”
This locker-room energy carried out onto the field as the Huskies scored first for the first time since Sept. 8. Bartucca assisted junior forward June Curry-Lindahl and allowed the Belgium native to send the ball into the net in the fourth minute of play.
Redshirt junior Kellie Stigas came alive once again in the effort, scoring on a penalty corner in the 28th minute for her first goal since the win over Providence Sept. 8. The goal, her fourth of the season, was a career-high for Stigas.
The Huskies managed to shut out Brown in the first half, adding a third point in the 45th minute as Bartucca pushed the ball over the goal line on a pass from Barrett.
Finally, in their second penalty corner of the game, Brown got on the board on a successful set-up for junior midfielder Rachel Lanouette.
Bartucca scored an insurance goal for Northeastern when she sent in a pass from MacLachlan in the 53rd minute.
“We do have a good attack, our attackers make plays,” Murtagh said. “They have decent elimination skills. They’ll get the shot on goal. I told them it doesn’t always have to look pretty and they’re doing it. I think what they’re doing is they’re keeping pressure on the opponent so it keeps it in our end.”
Gluyas tallied her first career start in the win and remained in net for the full 70 minutes, breaking a season-long routine that saw her replace Ennis midway through the game. Murtagh said Ennis missed several practices ahead of the game due to illness.
Northeastern will enjoy one more weekend of non-conference play, traveling north Friday to face the University of Maine and returning home to play the University of Vermont Sunday. During halftime on Sunday, the team will honor members of the 1988 Final Four squad in their second annual Celebration of Legends.
“We don’t have an easy schedule,” Murtagh said. “I’ve always known as a coach that we’re going to take our lumps, because we don’t make it easy on the team because we don’t think that prepares you for any kind of postseason play when you make it or if you make it, so that’s okay.”
