Juniors Mari Creatini and Liane Dixon gave Northeastern a 2-0 lead at the break and the 13th-ranked Huskies held on for a 2-1 victory over Dartmouth in non-conference action at Sweeney Field Sunday night.
NU bounced back from a 3-0 loss to fourth-ranked Duke Saturday and improved to 8-4 on the season. Dartmouth dropped to 0-6. The Huskies are now 4-1 at home this fall and 25-4 at home since moving to Sweeney Field in 2001.
"We knew that was a big game yesterday," said NU coach Cheryl Murtagh. "We jumped out on Duke early and played well. It was a little discouraging to come away from a game like that with nothing to show for, but you have to come back the next day and be ready." The Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead 7:26 into play. After failing to convert on its first two penalty corners, NU capitalized on its third. Creatini put the ball into play to stick-stop Leigh Shea. Sara Webber faked a shot and Shea slid a pass to Jay Quinn at the top left of the circle. Quinn sent the ball toward the net to Creatini, who deflected the ball past Dartmouth keeper Lauren Balukjian (three saves) for her 19th goal of the season.
Northeastern kept the pressure on the Big Green through most of the first half, but Dartmouth almost knotted the game at 14:18 when Audrey Knutson unleashed a shot from 18-yards out. NU goalie Diana Nelson (four saves) made a nice kick save to keep Dartmouth off the board.
Dixon gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead when she whacked a ball out of mid-air inside the near post to beat Balukjian with 1:40 remaining before the break.
NU held a 3-0 penalty corner advantage and 5-1 edge in shots in the first half.
The Big Green came storming back in the second half, applying offensive pressure in the Husky end. The effort finally paid off when Rebekka Stucker found a loose ball in front of the NU net and knocked it in to bring Dartmouth within 2-1 with 11 minutes remaining.
Nelson came up with a game-saving stop with 6:35 left in regulation, denying Stucker of her second goal of the game from three yards out.
"We need more people to play better," said Murtagh. "Alli Bolster had a good game and Mari's been playing well, but we need a consistent effort from everyone every time we take the field from here on out to be successful."
The Huskies held a 7-1 penalty corner advantage for the game, but the Big Green outshot NU 7-6.
Dartmouth Northeastern
Pos. # Player Sh G A Pos. # Player Sh G A
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
G 30 Lauren Balukjian.... - - - G 77 Diana Nelson........ - - -
M 8 Ashley Choren....... - - - F 3 Sara Webber......... - - -
F 10 Allison Welsh....... 1 - - F 4 Liane Dixon......... 5 1 -
M 11 Lindsay Gossage..... - - - B 5 Leigh Shea.......... - - -
B 13 Laura Kistler....... - - - F 9 Mari Creatini....... 1 1 -
B 18 Rebekka Stucker..... 2 1 - M 10 Sarah Eckhoff....... - - -
B 20 Nina Fulmer......... - - - B 15 Melissa Rowell...... - - -
M 23 Audrey Knutson...... 1 - - M 19 Jay Quinn........... - - 1
M 27 Kelly Storer........ - - - B 20 Alli Bolster........ - - -
B 32 Jessica Saraceno.... 1 - - B 21 Megan Troxel........ - - -
M 34 Lexie Otto.......... - - - B 22 Lauren Edelmeier.... - - -
---------- Substitutes ---------- ---------- Substitutes ----------
2 Abby Brown.......... - - - 14 Natalie Singelais... - - -
3 Amanda Prentice..... 2 - - 16 Nicole DePace....... - - -
5 Lauren Talbot....... - - -
28 Carrie Mae MaGrann.. - - - Totals.............. 6 2 1
Totals.............. 7 1 0
Dartmouth Northeastern
# Player MIN GA Saves # Player MIN GA Saves
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
30 Lauren Balukjian.... 70:00 2 3 77 Diana Nelson........ 70:00 1 4
Shots by period 1 2 Tot Saves by period 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Dartmouth........... 1 6 - 7 Dartmouth........... 3 0 - 3
Northeastern........ 5 1 - 6 Northeastern........ 1 3 - 4
Penalty corners 1 2 Tot Fouls 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Dartmouth........... 0 1 - 1 Dartmouth........... 0 0 - 0
Northeastern........ 3 4 - 7 Northeastern........ 0 0 - 0
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team ## Goal Scorer Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 7:26 NU 9 Mari Creatini (19) 19 Jay Quinn
2. 33:20 NU 4 Liane Dixon (6) Unassisted
3. 58:46 DC 18 Rebekka Stucker (1) Unassisted
