Box Score

Two Huskies netted for the first time this season, and junior Rachel Llanes provided the game winner as No. 8 Northeastern women's hockey (9-1-0, 4-0-0 WHEA) stayed perfect in Hockey East with a 4-2 win over Vermont on Friday night.

Freshman Ann Doherty and junior Siena Falino each tallied their first of the year to overcome an early deficit, and senior Florence Schelling made 24 saves to earn her eighth win.

The Catamounts controlled the tempo from the off; despite Megan Bergland's interference penalty at 4:29, the Huskies had yet to register a shot on goal when Vermont nosed ahead halfway through the opening period. Brittany Zuback netted her third goal of the season, with help from Krystal Baumann and Chelsea Rapin, and Northeastern had failed to score the first goal for only the second time this season.

The Huskies began to even out the shots battle as the first period closed, and killed off junior Kelly Wallace's bodychecking minor to keep the deficit at one.

Vermont found itself on the power play on the second period's opening faceoff after freshman Lucie Povova was called for bodychecking at the close of the period. The Huskies stayed perfect on the penalty kill, and then turned the tables on the Catamounts when Greer Vogl went to the box for checking.

With leading scorer freshman Kendall Coyne playing for the U.S. National Team at the Four Nations Cup in Sweden, the Huskies turned to two less likely sources for offense. With Vogl still in the box, junior Kelly Wallace and sophomore Katie MacSorley found Doherty for her first collegiate goal to draw Northeastern level at 1-1.

Doherty would not be the last to mark her first of the year; at exactly 10:00 of the second, junior Siena Falino got on the scoresheet for the first time this year, making it 2-1 to Northeastern. Assisting her were freshman Lucie Povova and Colleen Murphy.

With a freshly minted lead, Northeastern looked to have established control over proceedings when Vermont's Amanda Pelkey went off for cross-checking.  The Catamounts' Kellie Dineen had other ideas, however, gaining possession off a poor clearance and beating senior Florence Schelling top shelf to put the teams on level terms once again. Dineen's marker, her fourth of the year, was the first shorthanded goal allowed by the Northeastern defense this season.

With the momentum seeming to swing towards Vermont once again, Northeastern continued its trend of dominating the run of play in third periods. The Huskies began by killing junior tri-captain Casey Pickett's minor, and soon pulled ahead for good. It was Llanes scoring her second in two games, and with assists from graduate tri-captain Dani Rylan and Pickett, Northeastern had enough offense to keep itself perfect in Hockey East play.

Late in the third, Vermont pulled goaltender Roxanne Douville for an extra attacker, and Vermont did pressure Schelling for a late equalizer. In typical form, the Swiss international stood strong, enabling her defense to clear the zone.  The Huskies would then stumble into an empty-net goal to kill off the game when a Vermont pass hit off the back of Meghan Huertas and into the gaping net. The goal was credited to Pickett, her team-leading seventh of the season.

Schelling, who reigns as both the Hockey East Goaltender of the Month and last week's WHEA Defensive Player of the Week, was sturdy once again between the pipes, stopping 24 shots for the second consecutive game.

Both teams will rest up tonight for tomorrow's return affair; puck drop at Gutterson Fieldhouse is scheduled for 2 p.m. The game can be seen live on CatamounTV.