By Gayle Simone

Katy Augustyn stopped 28 shots for her collegiate debut Sunday as the Huskies blanked the Niagara Purple Eagles 3-0.

The sophomore got the start after No. 1 goalie Chanda Gunn was injured late in Saturday’s 2-2 tie with Niagara.

The extent of the senior’s injury is still undetermined.

“I hurt my knee, that’s all I know,” she said.

Freshman Amy Goodney broke the scoring drought 11:15 into the second for her first career goal. Goodney beat Niagara goalie Allison Rutledge when she redirected a shot from Rachel Bertram for the winning goal.

“I think we just wanted it more today,” Goodney said. “We were on fire and we dominated the game.”

Sophomore Cyndy Kenyon notched her first goal of the season on a power play at 16:59 padding the NU lead to 2-0. Crystal Rochon and Marie Desrosiers assisted on the play.

Goodney ended the scoring with an empty net goal, her second of the game, with 26 seconds left in regulation, securing the shutout for Augustyn.

She made the biggest save of the game at 8:15 in the third when Niagra’s Amy Jack picked up the puck and skated to an uncontested breakaway. Augustyn stayed focused, not losing the puck or the player and preserved her shutout.

“All I kept thinking was — shutout,” Augustyn said.

Woog was pleased with the team’s performance in the second game.

“Yesterday, we did not play our best game and I don’t think anyone in the locker room was satisfied with the game,” Woog said. “We didn’t show up to play. And today is how we should have played both games and at least they responded and played a great game today.”

The Huskies capitalized on one of four power-plays while holding Niagara scoreless on two penalty kills, after taking 19 penalty minutes in Saturday’s draw.

Woog added that the team didn’t play their type of game in Saturday’s matchup and looked forward to Sunday’s contest.

“We are just going to play better,” Woog said. “We talked about that as a team. We had some great moments out there and then we would drop into a funk. We were very inconsistent. We’re going to be more consistent and play better hockey.”

Kenyon spent nine minutes in the box with one of them being a five-minute major for boarding to end the first.

“I think after the five-minute major, they kind of had my number,” Kenyon said. “Yesterday, we weren’t really controlling the game and that got us in trouble. Today we played our game and controlled the game. That made the difference.”

Chrissy Sands gave NU the lead 57 seconds into the second, beating Rutledge on a pass from her twin sister, Kathryn.

Lindsay Vine tied the game for Niagara at 1-1 with a power-play goal that beat Gunn 10:56 into the second. Elizabeth Johnson and Jack assisted on the play. Rochon gave Niagara the man advantage with a high-stick penalty.

Theresa Ella gave the Huskies the lead back with a power-play goal at 13:59. Rebecca Peters got the helper.

The Huskies gave Niagara the opportunity to tie the game when Rachel Bertram took a penalty for high-sticking 1:41 into the third. Niagara did not capitalize on the power-play but NU’s lead was short lived when Jack notched her second point of the game with a goal at 3:43, just as the penalty to Bertram expired.

Gunn took a hit during the third period as Jack crashed into Gunn while trying to reach the puck.

“To tell you the truth I really had to concentrate to move,” Gunn said. “I took the hit and it hurt. I really had to pay attention because I wasn’t facing a lot of shots.”

Gunn faced 30 shots in the game.

Gunn was slated to miss the next two games regardless of the injury because she will be playing for the U.S. National team in a tournament in Sweden. Augustyn will start each game.

“I think since Katy got the shutout it will give us more confidence going into the next couple of games,” Kenyon said. “Sometimes I think we take for granted that Chanda is in net and we aren’t too worried because we know she’s back there.”

The tie and the win bring NU to a record of 3-1-2 on the season. They are 0-0-1 in Hockey East competition. The club does not face another Hockey East opponent until Nov. 20 against New Hampshire.

Next up for the Huskies are two home games against Yale and Princeton.

“Yale is going to be a different team this year,” Woog said. “They did a lot of recruiting so we really don’t know what type of team we will be facing.”

NU faces Yale Saturday at 1 p.m. and Princeton on Sunday at 2 p.m. Both games will be held at Matthews Arena.