By Jared Sugerman

Matchups with top-10 teams may garner more attention, but successful seasons are built upon games like the one the women’s hockey team played Saturday.

After losing back-to-back games against No. 7 New Hampshire and No. 8 Boston College, the Huskies traveled to Burlington, Vt. to face Vermont, which was fresh off a win against No. 6 Boston University. With another victory, the Catamounts (4-12-1, 2-5) would have tied Northeastern (7-5-2, 4-3) for sixth place in the Hockey East standings.

Instead, the Huskies came out on top of a 2-1 affair, moving into a fifth-place tie with Connecticut, which Northeastern defeated in the two teams’ only meeting thus far this season.

“The games against the Vermonts, the Maines, Connecticut, you need those wins to get into the playoffs. You can’t give those teams points,” head coach Dave Flint said after Saturday’s game.

The victory was the first for the Huskies since Nov. 9, when they downed Maine, 4-1. Northeastern had dropped four straight since then, scoring only five goals during the skid.

“We changed things up a little bit and we got some good looks at the net,” said Flint, who adjusted his team’s fore-checking strategy to create more pressure in the offensive zone. “Both of our goals were kind of pressuring them, causing a turnover and taking advantage of that.”

Sophomore forward Kristi Kehoe scored the Huskies’ first goal of the game at 16:52 of the first period, recording her team-leading 11th tally of the season.

Freshman defender Steph Gavronsky followed by netting the game-winning score 52 seconds into the second period. It was the first goal of her collegiate career, and it came on senior forward Ali Bielawski’s seventh assist of the season.

Sophomore goalie Leah Sulyma got her first start since Nov. 14, holding Vermont scoreless until the 18:10 mark of the third period, when defender Peggy Wakeham registered her fourth goal of the season to cut the Huskies’ lead in half. The Catamounts outshot the Huskies in the third period, 11-6, and 27-25 throughout the game.

“It was a back-and-forth game. They had some chances, too, and we battled with them and [Sulyma] came up with the big saves, especially in the third period,” Flint said.

With the win, Northeastern moves four points ahead of Vermont in the Hockey East standings. With three games in hand, the Huskies are five points behind first-place Boston College.

“We separated ourselves from [Vermont] a little bit more, which is important. We’re going to be battling in our league,” Flint said. “It’s going to be a dogfight for that fifth and sixth spot.”

Northeastern travels to New Hampshire Tuesday, Dec. 9, to play the Wildcats in its last game of 2008. That contest will also be the last of a six-game road-swing for Northeastern.

The Huskies return to Matthews Arena Friday, Jan. 2 to face Yale at 7 p.m.