BURLINGTON, Vt. – The No. 7/8 Northeastern women's hockey team (11-4-1, 7-2-0 WHEA) will close out the 2015 portion of its schedule this weekend with a pair of games at Vermont (3-13-0, 3-5-0 WHEA). The Huskies have won five straight meetings with the Catamounts and own a 30-4-4 overall mark against UVM dating back to the teams' first matchup in 1981.
BOUNCING BACKThe Huskies will be looking to bounce back after a pair of tough losses to top-10 opponents last week. Northeastern dropped a 3-0 decision at No. 8 Harvard on Nov. 24, and fell 6-1 to No. 2 Boston College on Nov. 28, despite outshooting the Eagles by a 37-23 count. The Huskies are 2-1-0 in games following a loss this season.
LAST TIME VS. VERMONTNortheastern skated to a 5-2 victory over Vermont on Nov. 21 at Matthews Arena. The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period courtesy of two
Kendall Coyne goals, and led 3-1 through 40 minutes. The Catamounts' Victoria Andreakos closed the gap to 3-2 early in the third, but goals by
Shelby Herrington and
Kasidy Anderson helped Northeastern restore its two-goal cushion. Herrington finished with her first collegiate three-point game, while Anderson notched her first collegiate two-goal effort.
COYNE CLOSING IN ON GOAL RECORDSenior
Kendall Coyne enters the weekend needing two goals to pass Hilary Witt as Northeastern's all-time leading goal scorer. Witt potted 113 career goals between 1996-00, but Coyne is right on her heels with 112 career tallies. With 199 career points, Coyne is also 10 points shy of passing Witt (208 career points) as the program's all-time points leader.
ON THE CUSP OF 200 POINTSSenior
Kendall Coyne has 199 career points in 111 games entering the weekend. With one more point, Coyne would become the second player in program history (Hilary Witt, 208) to hit the 200-point plateau. Coyne would also become the 29th player in NCAA Division-I women's hockey to reach 200 career points since the year 2000.
NU RANKED IN TOP-10 FOR 7TH STRAIGHT WEEKNortheastern was ranked in the top-10 of both national polls for the seventh straight week. The Huskies were slotted eighth in this week's USCHO.com poll, and seventh in the USA Today/USA Hockey ranking. NU has climbed as high as No. 4 (Nov. 23-24) in both polls during its current stint in the top-10.
STARTING FASTNortheastern is 9-1-0 this season when it scores the first goal, compared to 2-3-1 when its opponent scores first. Senior
Kendall Coyne has opened the scoring in six games; NU is 5-1-0 in those contests.
LIGHTING THE LAMPNortheastern enters Saturday's game with the No. 4 ranked scoring offense in the nation, averaging 4.44 goals per game. Northeastern has scored five goals or more in nine of its 16 games, and has netted at least seven goals in four contests. A big part of the Huskies' offensive success has been the performance of the NU power play, which ranks fourth nationally at 25.9 percent.
SOMETHING SPECIALNortheastern has been good on both the power play and the penalty kill this season. The Huskies rank fourth in the NCAA with the man-advantage, operating at 25.9 percent on the power play (14-for-54). The Huskies rank 11th in the country on the penalty kill at 85.2 percent, but have been particularly stingy as of late, having killed 30 of their opponents' last 33 power plays (91 percent) over the last 10 games.
SCORING IS HER MOTTAUJunior defenseman
Heather Mottau has developed into one of the top two-way blueliners in Hockey East. The Huskies are 4-0-0 this season when Mottau scores a goal, and are 10-0-0 when Mottau has a positive plus/minus rating. Mottau's 12 points rank fifth among WHEA defensemen this season, while her plus-17 rating is the fourth-best mark among conference blueliners.
STORMS A COMIN'Freshman netminder
Brianna Storms saw her first collegiate action on Nov. 28 against No. 2 Boston College, and made six saves on seven shots. Storms was called into action immediately upon entering the game midway through the second period, and rose to the occasion with a breakaway save on BC's Alex Carpenter.
