BOSTON - After jumping out to a 2-0 first period lead, the Northeastern women's hockey team (8-1-1, 4-1-1) saw its lead cut in half late in the third period before adding two more goals to upend Vermont (2-9-0, 1-3-0) on Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena. Casey Pickett scored the Huskies' final two tallies as NU extended its unbeaten streak to five games.
Claire Santostefano and Kelly Wallace also scored for the Huskies, while Chloe Desjardins made 23 saves in goal. Northeastern was 0-of-1 on the power play and won 28-of-55 draws, while UVM was 1-of-3 on the power play and received 27 saves from Roxanne Douville.
After a slow start to begin the first period, the Huskies came together midway through the frame, netting two goals in the final seven minutes of the stanza and outshooting Vermont 11-6. Santostefano netted her first goal of the season with 6:41 to play in the frame when she knocked down a clearing attempt out of the air and buried it past Douville for the score.
Wallace netted her second goal in as many games four minutes later when she was on the receiving end of a Colleen Murphy pass from the corner. After a two-on-one chance between Murphy and Brittany Esposito went awry, Murphy collected the loose puck in the corner before sending it out to Wallace in the slot. Wallace's initial bid was whistled wide, but she collected her own rebound and fired it home for her third of the season.
NU put another 11 shots on goal throughout the second period, including three on the power play and a team-high three from Jordan Hampton, but Douville was there to steer aside each Husky bid.
At the other end, Desjardins turned away all seven Catamount shots she faced in the middle period, and the Huskies dodged a bullet late in the frame when a shot from Amanda Pelkey rang off the left post.
Vermont pressured the Huskies during the third period in an attempt to claw away at the NU lead, and outshooting Northeastern 11-9 and cutting into the deficit with 6:42 to play in regulation. After taking a feed from Emily Walsh, Sarah Campbell flung a shot on goal from the top of the circle that was stopped by Desjardins. The rebound, however, popped out in front of the net, where Erin Wente hammered it home before a NU defender got come across to clear the puck.
The Huskies would respond just 65 seconds later as Pickett scored her eighth goal of the season. Katie MacSorley began the play when she took a clearing pass from Wallace and fed Pickett heading into the attacking zone. Pickett would do the rest, skating past a defender and deeking Douville to the right before sending the puck into the cage.
Pickett would add a second tally late in the third when UVM pulled the goalie in favor of the extra skater. Pickett blocked a shot from Dayna Colang and went in alone to extend the NU lead to three.
The teams will meet again in the weekend finale tomorrow afternoon at Matthews Arena. Game time is set for 2 p.m.