Northeastern women's hockey started its season in style with a comprehensive 6-0 romp in an exhibition contest over the Ottawa Jr. Senators on Friday, Sept. 23. Freshman center Kendall Coyne made the most of her debut at Matthews Arena, netting twice for the Huskies and adding an assist in the victory.
After holding their own against a talented Huskies side in the first period, the Senators came undone in the second, allowing three goals in just over eleven minutes and losing the shots battle, 18-4. As Northeastern finally began to dominate the run of play, junior winger Brittany Esposito opened the scoring at 6:42 with a wristed rocket over the left shoulder of Ottawa goaltender Cassie Charette.
Junior center Rachel Llanes doubled Northeastern's lead four minutes later, after Esposito and junior defenseman Casie Fields worked the puck around the perimeter, finally finding the San Jose, Calif., native open in the high slot.
Coyne then began to assert herself in her collegiate debut. The highly touted freshman, whose speed drew multiple penalties from Ottawa, finally got on the score sheet after a marauding end-to-end run late in the second period. And she wasn't done: eight minutes into the third period, Coyne made it 4-0 to NU with helpers from Esposito and Pickett, both of whom tallied two assists.
With seven minutes remaining, Coyne found senior defenseman Stephanie Gavronsky, who potted the Huskies' second power play goal of the game to put the game out of sight.
Gavronsky helped cap the drubbing with six minutes to play when her shot found the skate of freshman winger Chelsey Goldberg, catching Charette unaware and ricocheting into the top corner. Gavronsky, Coyne and Esposito led the Huskies in scoring with three points apiece on the night.
The Senators struggled to maintain possession in the Huskies' zone all evening, but received an admirable effort in goal from Charette, who stopped 37 of Northeastern's 43 shots.
Ottawa's 17 shots on goal all found the padding of a host of NU goaltenders; the trio of freshman Chloe Desjardins, senior Florence Schelling and sophomore Kelsey O'Sullivan combined to keep the Senators at bay throughout the game.
Northeastern has two weeks to prepare for its season opener against the Syracuse Orange at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, at Matthews Arena.