The Northeastern field hockey team continued its domination of furry opponents with a 7-1 dismantling of the Brown Bears (1-3) Wednesday afternoon at Sweeney Field.
In their past three games against the Quinnipiac Bobcats, Boston University Terriers and the Bears, the Huskies have outscored their opposition 10-2.
A pair of sophomores, forward Meg Sweeney and midfielder Pam Aldridge, were the stars yesterday afternoon. The pair scored two goals each to tie freshman forward Carolyn Malloy for the team lead with 10 points. Sweeney also had an assist to give her five points on the afternoon.
Malloy was named Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Co-Rookie of the Week for the second time in three weeks, sharing the honor with Hofstra goalkeeper Amanda Heyde. In three games last week, Malloy tallied six point on two goals and two assists.
However, she was held out against Brown after injuring her ankle against BU on Sunday. She returned to that game, but was held out yesterday for precautionary reasons, head coach Cheryl Murtagh said.
“We needed to keep her out. She’s a little bit sore, [and] there’s no need to risk it. We have a good team. I’m glad to see those players that did get a chance to play do a good job today,” Murtagh said.
Despite being without her freshman counterpart, forward Annie Clayman wasted no time scoring her second goal of the year 2:18 into the contest. Northeastern (5-2) continued to press in Brown’s zone, forcing the Bears to call a timeout just 6:04 into the game.
After the timeout, Brown drove down the field, but was denied by senior goalkeeper Colleen Duffy, who made a kick save by the left post. Sweeney gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead at the 10:51 mark, putting it past the reach of sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Kessler. Redshirt freshman forward Katie Ruth was credited with the assist.
Northeastern struck again less ‘ than two minutes later, when Aldridge took an inbound pass from Sweeney off a penalty corner and buried it past Kessler. That goal marked the end of Kessler’s day, as she was pulled three minutes later having allowed three goals in 19:21. Freshman Caroline Washburn played the final 50:39, making six saves, but allowing four more Husky goals.
Northeastern had another good defensive play on a Brown penalty corner, as Aldridge cut in front of the Brown attacker, swatting the ball out of the circle midway through the half.
However, Bears senior midfielder Sara Eaton notched her first goal of the year at 18:37. Sophomore midfielder Katie Hyland was credited with the assist.
Despite 16 Brown substitutions, the Huskies took a 3-1 lead into the half. Northeastern blew the game open with a goal apiece from Sweeney and Aldridge, in addition to the first collegiate goal for Husky co-captain and senior back Jillian Wilkes. Wilkes’ goal came on a penalty corner.
“It felt good,” Wilkes said. “We worked on that play yesterday. With Carolyn out we had different people rotating in at that position on the penalty corner, so I just stepped in there and I was pretty open.”
Senior forward and co-captain Ashley Bascetta had two assists and finished the Husky scoring with her third goal of the season at the 68:47 mark.
“I was a little disappointed with [Brown’s] goal. I thought we had a lapse there,” Murtagh said. “Overall, I feel like we are pressing teams pretty hard. I think our defense is stepping up. Colleen had some good saves and all four defenders did a really nice job.”‘
Northeastern opens its CAA schedule next Friday at home against William and Mary (1-5).
The Huskies lost 1-0 when they visited the Tribe last September 21.
“It’s awesome to be 5-2 going into our first conference game. I think we can only go up from here, but we have to keep a level head and not get too ahead of ourselves,” Aldridge said. “We’ve still got to work hard.”
