University of New Hampshire Athletics
University of New Hampshire
13-4-5, 7-3-2-0
Northeastern
14-5-3, 8-4-3-2HE
ALLEN'S GOAL LIFTS #4 WOMEN'S HOCKEY INTO 2-2 TIE VS. #7 NORTHEASTERN
1/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
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| JULIE ALLEN |
DURHAM, N.H.
– Julie Allen (Brampton, Ontario) scored a
goal for the fourth time in the last six games to lift the
fourth-ranked University of New Hampshire women's hockey team
into a 2-2 tie against seventh-ranked Northeastern University in
Wednesday night's Hockey East action at the Whittemore
Center. NU won the shootout, 1-0, in the fourth round to earn an
extra point in the league standings.
UNH, which entered the game with a 26-game win streak in the series
vs. Northeastern, is now 13-4-5 overall and 7-3-2-0 in Hockey East.
NU moved to 14-5-3, 8-4-3-2.
With the game tied 2-2 through 60 minutes of regulation and the
five minute overtime session, the league rule that was implemented
last season extended the game to a best-of-three round
shootout.
As the home team, UNH elected to shoot first and Kristina
Lavoie (Fonthill, Ontario), who had given the Wildcats a
1-0 lead at 6:05 of the second period, skated down the slot,
shifted to the right and then pulled the puck back to her forehand,
but NU goaltender Florence Schelling extended her right leg pad to
close off the left post. The Huskies' Brittany Esposito
skated out wide to the left, and when she attempted to cut back
towards the middle, UNH goalie Kayley Herman
(Weyburn, Saskatchewan) came out of her crease and forced Esposito
to lose control of the puck.
In Round 2, Micaela Long (South Boston, Mass.),
who extended her point-scoring streak to 15 games with an assist on
Lavoie's power-play goal, carried the puck down the slot and
quickly shifted to the backhand, but her close-range shot was
turned aside by Schelling. NU's Kristi Kehoe also charged
down the slot, but her shot sailed wide left of the cage.
Courtney Birchard (Mississauga, Ontario) opened
Round 3 with a quick, low wrist shot in the slot that ricocheted
off Schelling's left leg pad. Herman kept the shootout
scoreless through three rounds as she pokechecked the puck away
from Alyssa Wohlfeiler.
The shootout then moved to single-round elimination. UNH's
Brittany Skudder (Plainview, N.Y.) opened to the
right wing and meandered back to the slot, where she wristed a shot
that Schelling stopped. Rachel Llanes then ended the game as she
skated down the slot and snapped a low shot inside the left
post.
Herman finished with 21 saves, including three in overtime, while
Schelling stopped two shots in OT and 28 overall.
Following a scoreless first period in which UNH recorded an 8-4
shot advantage, the Wildcats took a 1-0 lead when Lavoie extended
her goal-scoring streak to six games. Birchard initiated the play
as she maneuvered from the left circle to the high slot and fed a
pass to Long at the right faceoff dot. Long centered the puck to an
unmarked Lavoie, who settled the pass and lifted a backhanded shot
into the upper-right corner.
NU responded with goals 2:31 apart to take a 2-1 lead. In the
waning seconds of an NU power play, a UNH turnover in the defensive
zone gave Casey Pickett possession at the top of the crease. Her
initial shot was stopped by Herman, but Pickett shoveled the
rebound over the goalie's left shoulder for a goal at 9:46
– one second after the power play ended.
Kelly Wallace gave the Huskies a 2-1 advantage at 12:17 when her
one-timer from the slot beat Herman. Lindsay Berman and Kristi
Kehoe were credited with assists.
For the fourth consecutive game, UNH trailed at the second
intermission. But, just as they were able to rally to victory
against the Huskies at Fenway Park on Jan. 8 to record a 5-3
victory, the Wildcats erased that deficit early in the final
frame.
Raylen Dziengelewski (Southwick, Mass.) won battle
for possession in the defensive zone and flipped the puck off the
left dashers into the neutral zone. Allen chased down the loose
puck and entered the offensive zone with a pair of Huskies back
defensively. As she approached the left faceoff dot, Allen split
the defenders and advanced to the slot, where she placed a shot
between Schelling's leg pads to tie the score, 2-2, at 4:51.
It marked the third consecutive game with an assist for
Dziengelewski.
UNH was whistled for a penalty 31 seconds into the overtime
session. NU immediately generated a dangerous scoring bid with
quick puck movement, but Berman's backdoor bid at the right
post was stuffed by Herman. Moments later, Kehoe ripped a shot in
the slot that caromed off the left post.
The Wildcats' best scoring chance in OT came in the closing
minute, when a shot from the right point deflected off traffic and
the puck trickled through to the low slot, where Allen was
positioned to backhand a shot into Schelling.
New Hampshire returns to action for a two-game series Jan. 29-30 at
the University of Maine. The Wildcats' next home game is Feb.
6 (2 pm.) against Boston University.
