The women’s hockey team was unable to extend their 12-game unbeaten streak on Friday night in Worcester, falling to the Holy Cross Crusaders at a score of 5-3. The Crusaders entered the contest having not won a single game this season, but put the Huskies to the test and walked away with their first mark in the win column.

In the first period, freshman forward Alina Mueller extended her point streak to 15 games and put the Huskies on the board first. Mueller entered the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 with fellow freshman forward Chloe Aurard to her right. Mueller elected to take the shot, ripping a snipe bar-down.

Later in the period, the Huskies went up 2-0 on a skillful goal by sophomore forward Veronika Pettey. Tori Sullivan took the puck down the boards before sliding it over to Pettey who dangled around a Holy Cross defender and snuck a backhand shot past Jada Brenon in net for the Crusaders.

Holy Cross was able to cut the deficit in half early in the second after a power-play goal by forward Carlie Magier, who redirected a blast from the point past senior goalie Brittany Bugalski in net for the Huskies.

Midway through the second, the Crusaders evened the score when Amanda Kewer took advantage of a poor line change by the Huskies, picking up the puck in the neutral zone and going in on Bugalski all alone.

In the final period, the momentum continued to tilt in favor of Holy Cross, as the Crusaders took their first lead of the game just 25 seconds into the third with a goal by forward Rachel Moore.

Minutes later, the Crusaders struck again, this time on the power play. Forward Maeve Reilly sniped a low shot past Bugalski to make it 4-2 with about 13 minutes to go in the game.

The Huskies were able to regroup and answer with a goal about two minutes later. Senior forward Kasidy Anderson cycled the puck low to sophomore defenseman Skylar Fontaine, who took a low shot on Benon. Aurard was camped out front in the perfect position to jab home the rebound from Fontaine’s shot to make things interesting with 11 minutes remaining in regulation.

The window for a Huskies’ come back dwindled as the Crusaders quickly answered the goal by Aurard, with Moore putting another one by Bugalski, her second goal of the evening, to push their lead to 5-3.

“The biggest thing to take away from this game is that we have to compete for a full 60 minutes,” associate coach Nick Carpenito said. “Any team in this league can beat anybody on any given night, so if you don’t show up to a game in Hockey East for a full 60 minutes, then it’s not going to work out for you,” he noted.

It was a frustrating night for NU as they outshot Holy Cross by a 37-17 margin but were handed their first Hockey East loss of the season.

“I think [the team] was still on a little bit of a high from that big win [over BC] on Tuesday night, but you know that’s where us as coaches need to make sure that we’re keeping our teams in check and so I think as much of it is on us as it is on the players. We have to do better on our part to make sure we are fully prepared as best as we can be and moving forward I can guarantee that we sure will be,” he said.

Carpenito’s message to the team following the disappointing game was one of tough love.

“It’s gonna sting for a little bit, you need to remember how the losses feel, but you also have to forget it quick and make sure that we’re ready to go on Sunday,” he said.