BOSTON --Â The Northeastern women's hockey team will conclude its season-long six-game road trip when it travels to Hanover, N.H., on Friday night to take on the Dartmouth Big Green. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m.
Last time out
The Huskies kicked off their season series with a pair of games against Hockey East rival Vermont last weekend, snapping their three-game losing streak with a 2-1 win Nov. 22 before dropping a 3-2 decision the following afternoon. With the win, Northeastern advanced to 3-4-1 in conference play and maintained its hold of fourth place in the Hockey East standings with seven points.
Senior
Katie MacSorley tallied a pair of even-strength goals six minutes apart in the second period and junior netminder
Chloe Desjardins stopped 31 shots to lead the Huskies to the 2-1 victory. Redshirt-senior
Kelly Wallace added a pair of assists and won 14-of-24 faceoffs, while redshirt-senior captain
Brittany Esposito notched her first helper of the season on MacSorley's second goal. Amanda Pelkey brought the Catamounts to within one with a five-on-three power play goal late in the third period, but the Huskies staved off Vermont's late rally to protect the win.
Trailing 1-0 midway through the first period, Vermont scored three unanswered goals and never looked back to earn the weekend split with a 3-2 win over Northeastern on Saturday afternoon. MacSorley tallied her third goal of the weekend to give the Huskies an early lead, and rookie
Melissa Haganey scored her first collegiate goal midway through the third period to bring Northeastern to within one. Wallace and freshman
Heather Mottau each notched an assist for the second consecutive game, and Desjardins made 32 saves in the losing effort. Vermont's Roxanne Douville turned away 25 Northeastern shots to earn her fourth win of the season.
Scouting Dartmouth
The Huskies will look to get back into the win column when they travel to Thompson Arena on Friday to take on Dartmouth, which enters this weekend's play with a 2-7-0 record and 2-6-0 mark in ECAC play.
The Big Green faced a challenging schedule to start the season and dropped their first four games before earning their first win of the season Nov. 2 at RPI. Five of their seven losses have come to teams receiving votes or in the top 10 in the national polls, but the Big Green have failed to score more than two goals in all but one game and rank 30th in the NCAA in goals per game (1.56).
Sophomore forward Lindsey Allen leads Dartmouth in scoring with six points (5-1-6); she ranks 14th in the NCAA in goals per game (0.56) and has two power play goals, tying her for 23rd nationally. Freshman defenseman Eleni Tebano leads Dartmouth with four assists and is tied for 33rd among Division I rookies in points per game (0.44).
The Dartmouth defense, which ranks 29th with 3.33 goals allowed per game, is backstopped by senior Lindsay Holdcroft, who has earned both of the Big Green's wins to go along with a 3.02 goals against average and .902 save percentage in six appearances this season. Dartmouth has allowed four or more goals in four contests this season and are 0-4 when doing so. The Big Green penalty kill has proven to be one of the country's best, killing 40-of-45 opportunities thus far for an 88.9 percent clip, the eighth-best unit in the country, while preventing their opponents from scoring more than one man-advantage goal in each of their nine contests.
The Huskies and Big Green haven't squared off since Dec. 5, 2012, a 3-2 overtime win that also stands as the last time Northeastern won a game that extended past regulation. The Huskies are 28-7-3 overall against Dartmouth, including a 17-3-1 all-time record at Thompson Arena.
I'm coming home
Friday's game at Dartmouth will bring an end to Northeastern's six-game spell away from Matthews Arena, which began on Nov. 10 and brought the Huskies to four states to take on five different opponents. The season-long road trip included a pair of games at National Collegiate Hockey Weekend in Vail, Colo., which marked Northeastern's first games in the state of Colorado in program history. When Northeastern hosts Boston University on Dec. 3, it will mark its first home game in 31 days, its longest span away from home since 2008.
Making themselves welcome
With their 2-1 win at Vermont on Friday night, the Huskies extended their unbeaten streak against Vermont to 15 games (13-0-2) and winning streak at Gutterson Fieldhouse to nine games (9-0-0). After Saturday's loss, Northeastern is 13-2-2 all-time against the Catamounts in Burlington.
Lights, camera, Mac(Sorley)-tion
Senior
Katie MacSorley notched a three-goal weekend in Northeastern's series with Vermont, scoring both goals in Friday's 2-1 win before opening Saturday afternoon's scoring with a first period goal. Her game-winner Friday night marked her first since scoring the deciding goal in a 3-0 win vs. New Hampshire on Nov. 3, and she is tied for seventh nationally with two game-winning goals. With three goals in two games, the Stratford, Ontario, native is on her best scoring tear since tallying four goals in three games from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3, and her team-leading nine goals tie her for 12th nationally in goals per game (0.56).
Wasting no time
After a goalless first period, senior
Katie MacSorley opened the scoring Friday night by giving the Huskies the lead 25 seconds into the second period -- the fastest Northeastern goal to start a period this season.
Haganey strikes for first career goal
Freshman
Melissa Haganey scored midway through the third period to bring the Huskies to within a goal of Vermont on Saturday, marking the first goal of her collegiate career and second point of the season. The Franklin, Mass., native notched her first-ever point Oct. 12 at RPI, and is one of five Northeastern rookies with at least one point this season.
Wallace has the hot hand
Redshirt-senior
Kelly Wallace turned in a three-assist weekend against Vermont, with her two-assist game Friday night marking her second multi-assist game of the season and first since Oct. 29 against Boston University. The Libertyville, Ill., senior is now tied for the team lead in assists (6) and points (13) and has five points (2-3-5) in her last four games, tying the longest point streak of her career. (Wallace also scored in four consecutive games from Nov. 3-16, 2012). Wallace has been a nuisance for opponents in the faceoff dot as well, going 159-126 on draws for a .573 winning percentage, good for fifth in Hockey East.
Assisting – that's her "Mottau"
Freshman
Heather Mottau tallied a helper in each of last weekend's games at Vermont, tying her for the team lead in assists with six and propelling her into the lead for points among Northeastern rookies (1-6-7). The Milton, Mass., native is tied for fifth and eighth among Hockey East defensemen and rookies, respectively, in scoring and tied for 34th and 37th in points per game (0.44) among rookies and defensemen at the national level.
Chloe in the clutch
Junior netminder
Chloe Desjardins made 31 and 32 saves on Friday and Saturday, respectively, giving her three consecutive games with at least 31 saves for the first time in her career. The Huskies have gone 1-2-0 in that stretch and are 4-3-0 this season when Desjardins makes at least 30 saves.
Special teams struggling
The Huskies went a combined 0-for-7 on the power play in last weekend's series with Vermont, dropping their season conversion percentage to 7.5 percent (5-of-67) and making them the No. 32 man-advantage unit in Division I. Their penalty kill, meanwhile, conceded two power play goals on nine opportunities over the weekend, dropping them to a 78.6 percent clip (66-of-84), ranked 28th in the NCAA.
Foss' first
Freshman netminder
Sarah Foss made her first career start against St. Cloud on Nov. 16, turning away 26 shots in the 3-2 loss. The North Reading, Mass., native's 26 saves were the most for a Northeastern netminder in her first career start since senior
Kelsey O'Sullivan stopped 27 shots in her first-ever start at New Hampshire on Jan. 24.
Masters-ful play
Freshman
Hayley Masters potted her first career goal Nov. 15 against Wisconsin, making her the second of three Northeastern rookies to score a goal this season. Her four points (1-3-4) are good for eighth on the team and third among Huskies freshmen.
Ending the drought
Four Huskies snapped scoreless streaks Nov. 15 and 16 against Wisconsin and St. Cloud, respectively. Freshman
Heather Mottau tallied an assist against the Badgers, her first helper since Oct. 29 vs. Boston University, while
Tori Hickel scored her first goal of the season in the loss to Wisconsin, ending a 12-game goalless drought to open the season. The following afternoon against St. Cloud, junior defenseman
Colleen Murphy notched her first assist since Oct. 25 vs. Providence and junior
Chelsey Goldberg registered her first assist since Oct. 26 at Providence.
Scamurra lends a helping hand
Rookie
Hayley Scamurra had the only assist on
Brittany Esposito's goal Nov. 10 at BC, giving her three assists in her last two games. She is currently on a career-best two-game scoring streak for the second time this season and is tied with sophomore
Paige Savage for the team lead in assists (5).
The road ahead
Northeastern will return home for the first time in a month when the Huskies host conference rival Boston University on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. from Matthews Arena. The Terriers topped NU in overtime in the first meeting of the season, 3-2.
