BOSTON – Fresh off a thrilling overtime win over No. 4 Boston College on Tuesday, the No. 5 Northeastern women's hockey team (12-1-2, 11-0-2 WHEA) will look to close out the first semester on a winning note this weekend with a home-and-home series vs. Holy Cross. The series begins Friday in Worcester at 7 p.m. and concludes Sunday at Matthews Arena at 2 p.m.
QUICK HITS
• The Huskies are currently riding the longest unbeaten streak in the NCAA at 12 straight games without a loss (11-0-1), which represents NU's longest unbeaten run since a 14-game winning streak during the 2015-16 season.Â
• At 11-0-2 in Hockey East, Northeastern is off to its best 13-game start to league play in the WHEA era (since 2002). The Huskies have garnered 24 league points thus far, which matches the team's final points total from all of last season. NU's previous best 13-game WHEA start came in 2015-16 when the Huskies started 11-2-0 in league play (22 points) en route to an NCAA tournament appearance.
• NU owns the No. 3 scoring offense (3.60 goals per game) and the No. 5 scoring defense (1.53 goals against per game) in the country. The Huskies have scored at least three goals in each of the last seven games and have allowed three goals or less in 14 of 15 contests this season.
• NU has the highest-scoring freshman class in the NCAA this season with 52 points (37% of the Huskies' total offensive output) from first-year skaters. Northeastern also has the second-highest scoring sophomore class in the nation with 45 points; only Clarkson (46 points) has received more production from its sophomores.
• Ten of NU's last 11 goals have been scored by freshmen: four by
Alina Mueller, four by
Chloe Aurard and two by
Mia Brown. All three rookies were on the scoresheet on Tuesday against Boston College as Mueller scored twice, Aurard notched the game-tying goal late in the third, and Brown won the game in OT.
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Alina Mueller currently leads all NCAA rookies in goals (11), assists (13), points (24), power-play points (9), game-winning goals (3) and plus/minus (+15). Mueller is riding a 14-game point-streak entering the weekend, which represents the longest scoring streak of any player in the NCAA this season.
• In the Hockey East era (since 2002), no other Northeastern rookie has scored more points in her first 15 collegiate games than
Alina Mueller (24 points on 11 goals and 13 assists). By comparison,
Kendall Coyne notched 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists) in her first 15 collegiate games during the 2011-12 campaign.
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Chloe Aurard is riding an eight-game point-streak heading into the weekend, during which she has racked up 17 points on seven goals and 10 assists. Aurard has notched multiple points in each of the last six games, including a four-assist effort against UNH on Nov. 10.
• Sophomore
Brooke Hobson ranks third in the NCAA in defensewoman scoring with 14 points in 15 games. Hobson has tallied at least a point in five of the last six games, and needs only one more point to match her freshman-year output of 15 points in 39 games.
• Sophomore
Aerin Frankel made a career-high 46 saves in Tuesday's 5-4 win over BC. This represents the highest single-game save total for an NU netminder since
Brittany Bugalski's 46 stops in a win at BC on Feb. 10, 2017.
• Frankel leads the nation with a .960 save percentage and ranks second nationally with a 1.12 GAA. The Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. native is also tied for the national lead with four shutouts, despite playing six fewer games than Minnesota State's Abigail Levy, seven fewer games than BC's Maddy McArthur, and eight fewer games than Wisconsin's Kristen Campbell (all of whom have four shutouts).
• Senior
Brittany Bugalski needs one more win to move into sole possession of third place on NU's all-time wins list. Bugalski has amassed 55 collegiate victories during her time at Northeastern, tied with Chloe Desjardins for third in the record books. Only Erika Silva (61) and Shannon Meyers (57) have won more games in a Huskies' uniform.
• Among goaltenders with at least seven starts this season, Bugalski (5-0-2) is one of only two netminders in the country without a loss, joining Minnesota's Alex Gulstene (11-0-0).
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