CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. --Â After a narrow 3-2 defeat to No. 4/5 Harvard on Saturday, the Northeastern women's hockey team (7-11-1, 3-5-1 HEA) returns to Hockey East action for a weekend home-and-home series against No. 7 Boston College. The teams will meet Saturday at BC at 2 p.m., before finishing the weekend at Matthews Arena on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Northeastern has won two of its last three games against the Eagles, with the lone defeat coming earlier this season in a 6-1 setback on Nov. 10 at Conte Forum.
Brittany Esposito (Edmonton, Alberta) scored the Huskies' only goal in the game.
LAST TIME OUT
The Huskies dropped a 3-2 decision at No. 4/5 Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 4 at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.
Freshman
Heather Mottau (Milton, Mass.) opened the scoring for NU, scoring her first career power-play goal off a feed from sophomore
Paige Savage (Johns Creek, Ga.) in the first period. Harvard battled back to take a 2-1 lead into the third period, before freshman
Hayley Scamurra (Williamsville, N.Y.) knotted the scoreline with a backhand shot from the right circle with five minutes remaining. Harvard again had an answer, however, as Sydney Daniels potted the eventual game-winner at 17:57 of the third to give the hosts the 3-2 win.
Junior
Chloe Desjardins (Saint-Prosper, Quebec) made several huge stops in net and finished with 32 saves. Harvard netminder Emerance Maschmeyer, the national leader in GAA, stopped 30 of Northeastern's 32 shots to improve to 8-1-2 on the year.
The Huskies killed off all four Harvard power plays and scored with the man-advantage for the first time since Nov. 15 vs. Wisconsin, a span of 24 chances. Northeastern also surrendered a shorthanded goal against the Crimson, the second straight game in which NU has allowed a shorthanded tally.
SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE
The preseason favorite in Hockey East, Boston College has lived up to its billing thus far in 2013-14. The Eagles enter the weekend ranked seventh in both national polls and boast a 13-4-2 overall record and an 8-1-0 mark in Hockey East play.
Boston College features one of the top offenses in the nation at 3.58 goals per game. Sophomore Haley Skarupa paces the attack with 25 points on 13 goals and 12 assists. Skarupa ranks third in Hockey East in goals and points and had three points (2 g, 1 a) when the teams last met on Nov. 10 at Conte Forum.
The Eagles are no slouch defensively, either, ranking first in the nation with nine shorthanded goals. Skarupa and fellow forward Andie Anastos are tied for the Hockey East lead with four shorthanded points apiece.
In goal, the Eagles are in good hands with graduate student Corinne Boyles minding the nets. Boyles leads all Hockey East netminders with a 1.88 GAA and ranks second in the conference with a .931 save percentage.
Boston College handed Northeastern its biggest defeat of the season back on Nov. 10 in a 6-1 decision at Conte Forum. Emily Field paced BC with two goals and two assists, while Boyles stopped 30 shots in net. Northeastern outshot BC, 31-24, but the Eagles scored three times with the man-advantage and added a shorthanded tally to record a decisive win.
BRITTANY BURNS BC
Senior
Brittany Esposito has points in four straight games against the Eagles dating back to last year. The Edmonton, Alberta native scored Northeastern's only goal in a 6-1 loss earlier this season and has two goals and four assists in her last four games vs. BC overall.
STREAKING SCAMURRA
Freshman forward
Hayley Scamurra enters the weekend series on a modest three-game point-streak (2g, 1 a). Scamurra scored her second goal of the season on Jan. 4 at Harvard, tying the game at two-apiece in the third period. Scamurra's three-game point-streak is a new career long for the freshman.
MOTTAU MARKS A FIRST
Freshman
Heather Mottau scored her first career power-play goal on Jan. 4 at Harvard. The goal came off a perfect cross-ice feed from sophomore
Paige Savage and gave NU a 1-0 lead in the first period.
POWER PLAY PICKS IT UP
Northeastern scored its first power-play goal in six games on Jan. 4 at Harvard. Prior to scoring against the Crimson, the Huskies had not tallied with the man-advantage since Nov. 15 vs. Wisconsin, a span of 23 straight PP opportunities without a goal.
FIRST THING'S FIRST
Since Northeastern joined Hockey East in 2002-03, the Huskies are 4-7-0 in their first league game of the new year. The Huskies have faced Boston College five times as their first conference opponent in the new year and the Eagles have won four of those five meetings.
DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER
Northeastern is currently in the midst of a four-game spell against teams ranked in the top-10 in the national polls. The stretch started on Dec. 3 against No. 9 Boston University and continued on Jan. 4 at No. 4/5 Harvard. The Huskies will make it four straight this weekend when they face a BC team that is ranked No. 7 in both national polls. Northeastern is 0-6 this season against top-10 opponents.
SLIM PICKINGS
Northeastern has scored two goals or less in eight straight games entering the weekend series with BC. After losing 6-1 to the Eagles on Nov. 10, the Huskies have scored two goals in each of their last seven games. The last time NU scored two or less in eight straight games was the 2008-09 season.
COYNE NAMED TO 2014 OLYMPIC ROSTER
Junior forward
Kendall Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill.) was named to the 2014 USWNT roster for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as announced by USA Hockey on Jan. 1.
Coyne was named to the preliminary roster on Jun. 24 and has been training with the National Team since. The Palos Heights, Ill., native has donned the USA jersey before, helping the team to IIHF World Championship titles in 2011 and '13.
In two seasons with the Huskies, Coyne has amassed an incredible 113 points on 63 goals and 50 assists in just 65 games. As a sophomore in 2012-13, Coyne was a Patty Kazmaier Award Top-10 Finalist and was the Most Valuable Player at the Women's Beanpot, which Northeastern won for the second straight year.
WALLACE HAS THE HOT HAND
Redshirt-senior
Kelly Wallace is currently riding a career-best six-game point streak, during which time the Libertyville, Ill. native has notched three goals and four assists. Wallace recorded an assist on Dec. 3 vs. BU and played hero just days earlier at Dartmouth when she scored her first career overtime goal to lift the Huskies to a 2-1 win. Wallace is currently tied for the team lead with 15 points this season.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, MAC-TION
Senior
Katie MacSorley (Stratford, Ontario) has been one of the Huskies' offensive leaders all season long. The Stratford, Ontario native is tied for the team lead with 15 points and owns a team-best nine goals. MacSorley has four multi-point efforts in her last nine games and is tied for 15th in Hockey East with 0.79 points per game.
HEY, SHORTY
Northeastern currently ranks second in the nation with six shorthanded goals this season.
Katie MacSorley,
Chelsey Goldberg (Agoura Hills, Calif.) and
Kelly Wallace each have two shorthanded tallies this season; all three are tied for the Hockey East lead in the category and are tied for fourth in the nation overall.
WORKING OVERTIME
With a 2-1 overtime win at Dartmouth on Nov. 29, the Huskies earned their first extra-time victory since Dec. 5, 2012, a 3-2 victory over the same opponent, Dartmouth. The result also marked Northeastern's first overtime win away from Matthews Arena since the 2012 Beanpot championship game Feb. 7, 2012, a 4-3 victory at Boston University.
FIRE AWAY
Northeastern fired a season-high 42 shots on goal in a 2-1 overtime win at Dartmouth on Nov. 29. The total was NU's most since tallying 48 shots against Vermont in the Hockey East Quarterfinals on March 2, 2013.
SCAMURRA SPARKS THE RALLY
Rookie
Hayley Scamurra gave the Huskies a lifeline on Nov. 29 at Dartmouth, scoring with 6:58 remaining in regulation to knot the score at one apiece and send the contest to overtime. The goal was the first of her collegiate career and her first point since notching an assist in Northeastern's 6-1 loss at Boston College on Nov. 10. After missing the first six games of the season, Scamurra now has eight points (2-6-8) in 13 contests and ranks 19th among all Division I freshmen in points per game (0.62).
I'M COMING HOME
Northeastern's home game vs. Boston University on Dec. 3 ended a 31-day hiatus from playing at Matthews Arena, the team's longest span away from home since 2008. During the 31 days, Northeastern visited four different states and wrapped up a season-long six-game road trip, during which the Huskies went 2-4-0.
HAGANEY SETS FIRST CAREER POINT STREAK
Following her first collegiate goal Nov. 23 at Vermont, freshman
Melissa Haganey (Franklin, Mass.) notched a helper on
Hayley Scamurra's goal on Nov. 29 at Dartmouth to earn her first-ever two-game point streak.
WASTING NO TIME
Senior
Katie MacSorley opened the scoring Nov. 22 at Vermont by giving the Huskies the lead 25 seconds into the second period -- the fastest Northeastern goal to start a period this season.
ASSISTING -- THAT'S HER 'MOTTAU'
Freshman
Heather Mottau tallied a helper in each of Northeastern's games at Vermont Nov. 22-23, giving her six assists and propelling her into a tie for the scoring lead among Northeastern rookies with seven points (Scamurra). Mottau is tied for eighth among Hockey East freshman scorers with 0.42 points per game.
CHLOE IN THE CLUTCH
Junior netminder
Chloe Desjardins made 30+ stops in three straight games 31 and 32 saves at Vermont Nov. 22 and 23, respectively, giving her three consecutive games with at least 31 saves for the first time in her career. The Huskies went 1-2-0 in that stretch and are 4-4-0 this season when Desjardins makes at least 30 saves.
CLOSE CALLS IN COLORADO
Northeastern's six-game November road trip took the team to the National Collegiate Hockey Weekend in Vail, Colo. for a pair of games against WCHA foes Wisconsin and St. Cloud State on Nov. 15-16. Making their first-ever appearance in the state of Colorado, the Huskies battled hard in a pair of 3-2 losses. Northeastern led No. 2 Wisconsin, 2-1, with seven minutes to play in the third period, before the Badgers rallied for the win.
POWER PLAY TURNS IN A SEASON-BEST
The Northeastern power play converted two of its three opportunities Nov. 15 against Wisconsin, the No. 5 penalty kill in the country, marking the first time this season the Huskies have potted two power-play goals in a game.
MASTERS-FUL PLAY
Freshman
Hayley Masters (Shanty Bay, Ontario) netted her first collegiate goal Nov. 16 against St. Cloud State. Masters is one of four NU freshmen to light the lamp so far this season (Mottau, Scamurra, Haganey).
