By Gayle Simone
The Northeastern women’s hockey team scored four first-period goals and never looked back Wednesday night as they cruised to a 5-0 victory over Boston College.
The win at Matthews Arena gave NU their first Hockey East victory of the season.
Sophomore Theresa Ella notched four assists, while Cyndy Kenyon tallied two goals and an assist. Goalie Katy Augustyn turned away all 20 BC shots to earn her third career shutout in her seventh straight start.
Last week, the Huskies were beaten twice at the hands of UNH. NU had not lost a game since the first game of the season and saw their eight game unbeaten streak snapped.
The Huskies now stand 1-2-1 in Hockey East and 7-3-2 overall.
NU didn’t take long to get the scoring started against the Eagles. Kenyon deflected an Ella slap shot from the point past BC netminder Lisa Davis just 2:25 into play.
“She jumped up into the play,” said coach Joy Woog. “She makes things happen when she does that.”
Co-captain Lori DiGiacomo scored four minutes later on a perfect pass from Chrissy Sands. Ella carried the puck into the BC zone, passing to Sands. Sands then brought the puck down to the post and sent it across the crease to a wide-open DiGiacomo.
The Huskies solid defense set up the third goal of the game. Kenyon stole the puck from an Eagles player along the boards in the BC end and set Amy Goodney up for a one-timer. Goodney connected on the shot at 8:32 for her fourth goal of the season.
NU ended the first period scoring with a Marie Desrosiers goal at the 15:15 mark. Ella, earning her third assist of the game, carried the puck out of the defensive zone and passed the puck up to Crystal Rochon. Rochon hit Desrosiers in the slot and the freshman slipped it between Davis’ legs to give the Huskies a commanding 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
“[Rochon and Desrosiers] are smart hockey players,” Woog said. “They do a lot of the little things to bring them success. They make passing lanes for their linemates.”
The Huskies only allowed two shots by BC and capitalized on four of their 12 shots in the first. The Eagles didn’t give up, though, and they turned the tables on NU in the second.
After only two shots in the first, the Eagles peppered Augustyn with 15 shots. Augustyn turned every one of them away to keep BC off the scoreboard.
The Huskies only got two shots on net in the second and capitalized on one similar to the first goal of the game.
Kenyon, set up in front of the net, deflected Ella’s shot from the blue line. Becky Peters passed the puck along the blue line to Ella on the left side. Ella blasted the shot towards the net and Kenyon earned her second goal of the night at 15:32.
The Huskies started the third down two men as they were whistled for three straight penalties to end the second, which gave BC a two minute and 40 second power play.
BC skated and moved the puck well, but the Huskies killed off the penalty and got the momentum back.
“I was thinking UNH scored so many power play goals,” Augustyn said. “So I knew I wanted to play more aggressively and shut [BC] out on the power play.”
The two teams skated in a scoreless third preserving the shutout.
NU out shot the Eagles 23-20 and both teams were stymied on the power play. NU went 0-2, while BC was 0-6 on the man-advantage.
In Durham, N.H. on Nov. 20, the Huskies were held to two goals as UNH notched four to seal the victory for the Wildcats. UNH then shutout NU 5-0 on Nov. 22 at Matthews Arena, marking the first game of the season the Huskies were kept off the scoreboard.
The Huskies travel to Maine this weekend to continue Hockey East play on Saturday and Sunday. NU leads the all-time series against the Black Bears 9-3-0.
