By Danielle Ossher

The field hockey team won its first home game of the season after 88 minutes and two overtime periods of nail-biting play against New Hampshire at Sweeney Field Sunday.

“UNH played a great game,” said head coach Cheryl Murtagh. “It threw us off a bit, so I’m glad we solved that [problem] in the second half.”

The Wildcats started the first minutes of play with two penalty corners, but were unable to capitalize. Just nine minutes into the game, senior midfielder Ashley Webber put the Huskies on the board with an assist from sophomore midfielder Montana Hewlett.

Twenty minutes after the Husky goal, UNH netted the game-tying goal after converting its fourth penalty corner of the match. Senior captain Liz Centofanti made a diving save off the initial shot, but sophomore forward Leah Boody lifted the rebound above Centofanti’s pads, evening the score.

The rest of regulation play saw several offensive breakaways, diving saves by each goaltender and clean passing. With the game clock at zero, Northeastern was awarded back-to-back penalty corners, and the opportunity to end the game, but was unable to convert, sending the game into overtime.

“It’s different systems,” Webber said. “Everyone has to drop on defense and attack as a unit. Our goal in overtime was to win, to keep possession and still play strong on defense.”

The Huskies began the seven-on-seven sudden-death overtime on defense as the Wildcats put constant pressure on the net, tallying four shots on goal. Northeastern cleared the zone and sustained offense of its own, collecting two shots.

Late in the period, the Northeastern defense came together to prevent the Wildcats from scoring to end the game. UNH forward Megan Shea gained a slight breakaway in the Northeastern circle, causing Centofanti to make a diving play. Centofanti caught a piece of the ball that rolled under her stick to senior forward Stephanie Casper, who made the defensive save.

“It was a great play,” Centofanti said. “I misjudged the play and dove too soon, and Steph was there to prevent the goal. It was a huge, huge play.”

After the first overtime, the Huskies reevaluated their strategy and made minor adjustments before they headed into the second and last overtime period of the game.

“We switched some things up a bit,” Murtagh said. “Just to help us keep better possession and play better defensively, and I think that switch helped out a little bit.”

After several Northeastern scoring opportunities, Webber beat UNH goaltender Margaux Shute in the third minute to give the Huskies their first home win of the season. Webber dribbled the ball toward the net, forcing Shute to dive in an attempt to intercept the play. Webber maneuvered past Shute, tapping the ball in the net and ending the game.

“I felt like we finally played in a way we can play,” Murtagh said. “We set the tempo. We kept possession. UNH played a great game and it threw it off a bit.”

The game featured strong goaltending, with Shute tallying five saves and Centofanti collecting 12 saves. Centofanti was a defensive force for the Huskies in the game, and now has 54 saves in the season’s 10 games. Coming into the game, Centofanti was ranked fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) with 42 saves.

“Liz has been great for us,” Murtagh said. “She’s been really consistent, which is not a surprise. She’s helping our team in tough games like this.”

Despite the team’s efforts to cut down on defensive penalty corners, they allowed UNH 11 in the game. Northeastern retaliated with six of its own.

UNH had 15 shots in the game. Northeastern, which has had problems generating offense so far this season, saw improvement from its front line, collecting 12.

“In practice [we worked on] getting our forwards to come back to the ball more, trying to get them confidence in their own skills. They’re young,” Murtagh said. “Ashley Webber had a great finish. She’s been out, she’s been injured and we missed that.”

The win marks the beginning of the Huskies’ six-game home stretch, improves their record to 4-6 (0-2 CAA). The Huskies’ next game is Wednesday, Oct. 3, against Harvard at 4 p.m. at Sweeney Field. Northeastern faces its next CAA opponent Friday Oct. 5 against Delaware at 2 p.m.

“It was good to win on our home field,” Webber said. “It feels good to start the stretch of home games with a win.”