Box Score  |  Season Stats

BOSTON — Sophomore Paige Savage (Johns Creek, Ga.) had a goal and two assists and redshirt senior Brittany Esposito (Edmonton, Alberta) scored two goals as the Northeastern women's hockey team took down No. 9 Boston University, 4-2, on Sunday at Walter Brown Arena.

The Huskies (9-12-2, 5-6-2 HEA) took a 2-0 lead into the third period and held off a furious Boston University (16-6-1, 9-3-0 HEA) rally to earn their first win over a top-10 opponent this season. Junior Chloe Desjardins (Saint-Prosper, Quebec) stopped 32 shots, including 16 in the third period, as NU picked up its second straight win and sent BU to its second straight loss. 

Northeastern scored with the man-advantage for the second time in as many games and killed off all three BU power plays. Both teams recorded 34 shots, led by Esposito who fired a team-high seven attempts on goal.

After a scoreless opening period, the Huskies wasted little time getting on the board in the second as redshirt senior Kelly Wallace (Libertyville, Ill.) put the visitors ahead just 31 seconds into the frame. Collecting a loose puck off a Desjardins save, Wallace carried the disc into the BU zone, before dropping a pass to Savage on the left wing. Savage stickhandled toward the net and slid a low shot towards the cage, which Wallace redirected inside the left post for her 10th goal of the year.

The Terriers nearly equalized minutes later on a 2-on-1 break, but Desjardins came up big with a sprawling save on Taylor Holze to keep the Huskies in front.

After scoring in the first minute of the second period, the Huskies struck again in the final minute of the frame to pad their lead. Senior Katie MacSorley (Stratford, Ontario) started the play on the forecheck by forcing a turnover in the right corner. MacSorley then picked up the puck and threw a pass across the goal-mouth to Savage, who roofed a quick shot over the shoulder of BU netminder Kerrin Sperry (30 saves) to make it 2-0 with 47 seconds showing on the clock.

Down two goals heading into the third, Boston University quickly made things interesting when Louise Warren pounced on a loose puck at the left of the net and buried her 16th goal of the season to make it 2-1 with 15:10 to play.

Instead of sitting back and protecting the lead, Northeastern went right back on the offensive and regained its two-goal cushion less than five minutes later. With BU's Kaleigh Fratkin in the box for holding, the Huskies worked the puck down low to Savage, who emerged from the right corner to fire a hard shot on target. Sperry made the save, but the rebound popped out to Esposito, who made no mistake on the rebound to give the visitors a 3-1 lead midway through the period.

Again Boston University had a response as Sarah Lefort cut the deficit to 3-2 at the 14:36 mark with a shot that banked off Desjardins from behind the net.

Undeterred, Desjardins came back to rob Lefort minutes later with a kick save on a tricky wrister from 15 feet out. Desjardins then made the save of the game with just over two minutes remaining, denying Samantha Sutherland's tip attempt with a cartwheeling stop to deflect the puck over the net.

Boston University then pulled Sperry for the final 90 seconds, but Northeastern defended well and iced the game when junior Colleen Murphy (Cary, N.C.) blocked a shot and fed Esposito up the ice for the empty-net clincher with 15 seconds remaining.


Notes
• Savage recorded her eighth-career multi-point game.
• Savage is the third Husky to record three points in a game this year (Chelsey Goldberg vs. RIT on Oct. 5, Heather Mottau vs. Providence on Oct. 25).
• Savage, MacSorley and Wallace each extended their point-streaks to three games.
• Esposito scored a power-play goal for the second straight game.
• Esposito has four points (3 g, 1 a) in her last two games.
• Wallace has 10 points (5 g, 5 a) in her last 10 games played.
• Desjardins stopped 30+ shots for the fifth straight game.
• Desjardins picked up her second assist in the last three games on Wallace's first period tally.
• Northeastern improved to 1-7-1 against ranked opponents this year.