NU FACES BU IN 2013 TITLE GAME REMATCH
After a dramatic come-from-behind victory over UConn in the WHEA Quarterfinals, the Northeastern women's hockey team will look to advance to the conference final for the third time in the last four years when it faces Boston University on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The semifinal matchup will be a rematch of the 2013 Final, won by the Terriers by a score of 5-2.
HUSKIES VS. TERRIERS IN POSTSEASON PLAY
Northeastern and Boston University have met three times before in the WHEA Tournament with the Terriers laying claim to a 2-1 record. Boston University defeated Northeastern in the 2009 Quarterfinals (2-1) and the 2013 Final (5-2), while the Huskies downed BU in the 2011 Semifinals (4-2).
NORTHEASTERN IN THE WHEA TOURNAMENT
Northeastern is 5-6 all-time in the WHEA Tournament, including a 2-0 mark in the semifinal round. The Huskies beat BU, 4-2, in the 2011 semfinals, and knocked off Boston College, 4-1, in the 2013 semis.
Northeastern has appeared in two of the last three WHEA championship games, but has never lifted the Bertagna Trophy. The Huskies lost to Boston College, 3-1, in the 2011 title game, before losing to BU, 5-2, in the 2013 championship.
YOU AGAIN?
Saturday's semifinal matchup between Northeastern and BU is a rematch of the 2013 title game won by the Terriers, 5-2. Goals by Jenelle Kohanchuk and Kayla Tutino broke open a 3-2 game late in the third and helped BU to the WHEA championship, despite a 37-28 shot advantage in favor of the Huskies.
Kendall Coyne and
Kelly Wallace each scored for Northeastern.
LAST TIME OUT
Trailing 1-0 in the final three minutes of the third period, the Huskies scored twice in a span of 1:23 to claim a 2-1 victory over UConn in the WHEA Quarterfinals on Feb. 28 at Matthews Arena.
Connecticut appeared to be headed for the upset win after Sarah MacDonnell gave the visiting Huskies the lead 6:08 into the third. After a UConn penalty with 2:31 left, Northeastern called timeout in a last-ditch attempt to tie the score.
On the ensuing faceoff, freshman
Hayley Scamurra won the puck back to senior
Sonia St. Martin, who fired a wrister inside the left post from the top of the right circle to make it 1-1. Then, just over a minute later, senior
Brittany Esposito picked off a pass along the left boards and skated into the slot, before beating UConn netminder Elaine Chuli over the glove to make it 2-1 Northeastern with 1:01 remaining.
SCOUTING BOSTON UNIVERSITY
The No. 2 seed in the WHEA Tournament, Boston University (22-12-1) will be looking for its third straight conference title after claiming the Bertagna Trophy in 2012 and '13. The Terriers edged Providence, 3-2, in the quarterfinals as goaltender Kerrin Sperry stopped 37 shots.
Boston University is led offensively by sophomore forward Sarah Lefort, who leads Hockey East and ranks fourth nationally with 53 points on 30 goals and 23 assists. Lefort's linemate, senior Louise Warren has also had a big year with 45 points on 26 goals and 19 helpers.
In goal, Sperry has seen action in 30 games and owns a 2.44 GAA and a .925 save percentage. The Terriers are the fourth-stingiest defensive team in the conference with a team GAA of 2.57.
Boston University has been on a bit of a cold streak lately with just six wins in its last 14 games. During that stretch, the Terriers fell to Northeastern by a 4-2 score at Walter Brown Arena on Jan. 19 as
Brittany Esposito scored twice for the Huskies.
Boston University and Northeastern finished the regular season tied with 28 points apiece in the WHEA standings. The Terriers owned the tiebreaker, however, by virtue of their 2-1-0 record vs. NU during the season.
TWO HUSKIES NAMED TO ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Freshmen
Heather Mottau and
Hayley Scamurra were named to the WHEA All-Rookie Team, as announced by the league Wednesday. The only blueliner on the All-Rookie Team, Mottau leads all Hockey East rookie defensemen with 18 points on five goals and 13 assists. Scamurra, meanwhile, ranks fifth in the NCAA among freshmen with 0.79 points per game (22 points in 28 games). Northeastern was the only team in Hockey East to place two skaters on the All-Rookie Team.
SCAMURRA NAMED ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
Freshman
Hayley Scamurra was named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month for February in Hockey East. The Williamsville, N.Y., native racked up 10 points on three goals and seven assists in nine games as the Huskies posted an 8-1-0 record during the month. Scamurra posted two assists in the Women's Beanpot Semifinals against No. 4/5 Harvard on Feb. 4 and scored the game-winning goal in the third period at Providence on Feb. 8.
WINNING WAYS
Northeastern enters the WHEA Semifinals on a five-game winning streak, the seventh-longest current streak in the NCAA. The Huskies have won 12 of their last 13 games overall, good for a .923 winning percentage during that span. Only Minnesota (13-0-0, 1.000 win pct.) has posted a better record in its last 13 games than Northeastern. Boston College (12-1-0, .923) and Clarkson (11-0-2, .923) are also tied for second with NU in the same 13-game span.
BRITTANY BRINGS IT
Senior
Brittany Esposito has raised her game to a new level over the past four games with six goals and three assists during that span. Esposito scored five goals in two games vs. UNH on Feb. 22-23 and then netted the game-winner with 1:01 remaining against UConn in the WHEA Quarterfinals on Feb. 28. After missing the first 11 games of the season due to injury, Esposito has 24 points in 23 games.
POWER IN NUMBERS
Northeastern has scored at least one power-play goal in each of the last five games. The Huskies are 6-for-19 (31.6%) with the numerical advantage during that span and have seen their PP rank climb from eighth in the league to fifth at 12.0% for the season. Northeastern is 10-4-0 in 2013-14 when it scores a power-play goal in a game.
ASSISTANTS ANSWER
Northeastern's two assistant captains,
Sonia St. Martin and
Brittany Esposito, stepped up in a big way in the Huskies' 2-1 victory over UConn in the WHEA Quarterfinals on Feb. 28. With the team trailing, 1-0, in the final minutes, St. Martin and Esposito scored 1:23 apart to lift NU to its third semifinal appearance in the last four years.
SCINTILLATING SCAMURRA
With 22 points in 28 games, rookie
Hayley Scamurra has been one of Northeastern's most consistent offensive performers this season. Scamurra ranks second in WHEA and fifth in the nation among NCAA freshmen with 0.79 points per game. Scamurra has also stepped up her game down the stretch, recording points in nine of her last 10 games, including five straight games with at least a point entering Saturday's semifinal.
ESPOSITO NAMED CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Following a five-goal weekend against UNH, senior
Brittany Esposito was named the Warrior Co-Player of the Week in Hockey East on Feb. 24. Esposito had two goals and an assist in a 5-4 win on Feb. 22, before notching her first career hat trick in a 4-2 victory at UNH the following day. Esposito has been named the Warrior Player of the Week twice this season and was also named the Hockey East Player of the Month for January.
TIP OF THE CAP
Redshirt senior
Brittany Esposito notched her first career hat trick in Northeastern's 4-2 win at New Hampshire on Feb. 23. Esposito scored a highlight-reel goal to open the scoring in the first period and completed her hat trick with two goals early in the second. The hat trick was the first for NU since
Kendall Coyne's three-goal performance against BU on Feb. 5, 2013.
CAPTAIN'S CALLING
Senior captain
Maggie Brennolt scored her first career game-winning goal (130 games into her college career) in Northeastern's 5-4 win over UNH on Feb. 22. Brennolt broke a 4-4 tie with an unassisted tally at 16:01 of the third period in Northeastern's final regular season home game of the season.
HUSKIES WIN THREE MEDALS IN SOCHI
Northeastern women's hockey won three medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Kendall Coyne took home a silver medal as a member of Team USA and posted six points (two goals, four assists) in five games to tie for the team lead in scoring.
Florence Schelling '12 and Julia Marty '11 each won bronze medals for Switzerland as the Swiss took third place with a 4-3 win over Sweden. Schelling was named the MVP of the women's hockey tournament by the IIHF after stopping 255 shots (42.5 per game) and posting a .914 save percentage in helping Switzerland to its first-ever Olympic medal in women's hockey.
TEN STRAIGHT IN CONFERENCE
Northeastern ended the regular season on a 10-game conference winning streak, which represents the program's longest streak in Hockey East play since joining the league in 2002-03. It is also the longest conference streak for NU since winning nine straight ECAC games during the 1998-99 campaign.
WALLY'S WORLD
Senior
Kelly Wallace has enjoyed a career season with a team-best 31 points on 18 goals and 13 assists. Wallace has points in 12 of her last 14 games (10 goals, six assists during that span) and has been held off the scoresheet in just nine contests this season.
SAVAGE SETS IT UP
Sophomore
Paige Savage has developed into one of the top passers in Hockey East, ranking third in the conference with 22 helpers this season. Savage leads WHEA with 0.69 assists per game and has dished out at least one assist in 10 of her last 14 games.
SCORING IS HER MOTTAU
Freshman
Heather Mottau is the highest-scoring rookie defenseman in Hockey East with 18 points in 34 games. Mottau also ranks 25th in the NCAA in scoring among all defensemen with 0.53 points per game.
MARVELOUS MURPHY
Junior
Colleen Murphy has elevated her game in 2014 with a plus-16 rating since the start of the new year. Murphy was a plus-6 in an 8-2 win over Maine on Jan. 25 and ranks third on the team with plus-13 rating this season. Only
Maggie Brennolt (+15) and
Paige Savage (+14) have better plus/minus ratings among Northeastern skaters in 2013-14.
SECOND STANZA SUCCESS
Northeastern has been particularly effective in the second period of games this season. The Huskies are a +15 (34 goals for, 19 goals against) in the middle period this year, compared to a -2 in the first period (20 for, 22 against) and a -3 in the third period (36 for, 39 against). Northeastern is 12-2-0 this year when leading after two periods.
FOUR IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
Northeastern is 10-0-0 this season when it scores four goals or more in a game. The Huskies most recently scored four in their 4-2 win at New Hampshire on Feb. 23.
POLL POSITION
Northeastern is receiving votes in both national polls for the fifth straight week. The Huskies opened the season at No. 10 in both polls, but dropped out of the picture for 13 straight weeks starting Oct. 21. Northeastern reappeared in the national spotlight in the Feb. 3-4 polls and has been receiving votes ever since.
CENTURY MARK FOR ESPOSITO
Senior
Brittany Esposito registered her 100th career point on Feb. 4 vs. Harvard with an assist on
Kelly Wallace's first-period goal. With the assist, Esposito became the 24th player in program history to record at least 100 points. Esposito is currently tied for 20th all-time in the program record books with 109 career points on 47 goals and 62 assists in 134 games.
