By Jewel Della Valle
The women’s hockey team wrapped up its season with a disappointing loss to Boston University Saturday. Though NU outshot the Terriers 25-24, they fell 6-2 after briefly leading by two in the first period.
With a win, the Huskies could have picked up a morale victory and moved up a spot in Hockey East, tying Maine with 12 points, but taking sixth place after winning the season series 2-1. Instead, NU remains in seventh place and finishes the season at 5-26-2, 4-15-2 HE, and will not see postseason action. The conference playoffs only consist of the top four teams, a policy which may change next season.
“We were looking at [the game] as far as next year goes, and the potential of having six teams in the playoffs,” said head coach Laura Schuler. “Had we have won that game, we would have made a playoffs spot. That’s what we were gearing toward, so it’s very disappointing that we fell short of that goal.”
The Huskies came out strong in the first, outshooting BU 10-7 and scoring their first goal at 1:54. Sophomore forward Colleen Sanborn collected the rebound off freshman forward Chelsey Jones’s deflected shot and put it past BU goaltender Melissa Haber for her third goal of the season.
At 10:51, Jones put NU up 2-0 with her team-leading 16th goal of the season after beating Haber and slipping the puck under her pads. The insurance goal was short-lived, as nine seconds later BU forward Cara Hendry scored to make it 2-1. The Terriers evened the score with just more than two minutes left in the period when defender Catherine Foley scored the second goal of her career. Her first was the game-winning goal of a 4-3 win over the Huskies, Feb. 4, 2006.
The Huskies took a 2-2 tie into the first intermission, but would allow four more goals in the rest of the game for the loss.
“BU’s a good team and they picked up their intensity of play and we kind of leveled off as a team,” Jones said. “We were not as nearly as intense as [the way] BU played.”
Saturday marked the third time this season the Huskies have led by two or more goals to relinquish the lead for a loss or tie to BU.
NU gave up a 3-0 lead Feb. 3 to settle for a 4-4 tie, and a 2-0 lead in the first round of the Beanpot, Feb. 6, to lose 4-2. BU forward Erin Seman, who scored the game-winning goal in BU’s Beanpot victory, had a hat trick in Saturday’s game for her team-leading 17th, 18th and 19th goals of the season. Seman put BU up 3-2 at 3:09 into the second period, which was all the Terriers needed for the win.
Jones scored in three consecutive games after a recent dry spell for the second time this season. Her 27 points are the most by an NU freshman since alumna Brooke Whitney racked up 42 points in the 1998-99 season. Jones’ points for 23rd among freshmen all-time and her 16 goals are also the most by a Husky since Whitney’s 32 tallies in the 2001-02 season.
After a 14-game winless streak (0-13-1), the Huskies swept a weekend series against last-place Vermont at Matthews, Feb. 17 and 18, for their first wins since Dec. 2 and one of the few bright spots in their season. Though they came against a last-place team, the wins still felt “phenomenal,” said freshman goalie Sydney Arbelbide.
Arbelbide had eight saves in Saturday’s contest and was pulled 25 minutes into the game after giving up four goals in favor of junior Sarah Belliveau, who tallied 10 saves and allowed two scores.
“Obviously it was a tough year, but I really just felt like every game that the team played, we continued to improve, which is something really positive to take into next year,” Schuler said. “Even just looking at the last game that we played, the kids that I thought were playing really well were the kids that are going to be back next year. They showed a lot of heart and I was really happy with that.”
Senior forwards Ashley Bielawski, Jessica Coppney, captain Amy Goodney and assistant captains Marie Desrosiers and Crystal Rochon played their last games as Huskies Saturday. They combined for 109 goals, 125 assists and 234 points in their Northeastern careers.
