By Tim Schmitt
LEWISTON — You’d think by looking at the Niagara University women’s hockey team’s record against ranked opponents that the Purple Eagles simply don’t have the talent to hang with the big girls.
But Sunday’s matinee at Dwyer Arena was simply another example of a Niagara team that hasn’t caught its share of bounces. Despite staying even in shots and chances, the Purple Eagles watched No. 8 Northeastern waltz out of town with a pair of wins by virtue of a 6-2 verdict in front of 186 fans.
After Saturday’s painful 2-1 loss to the highly-regarded Huskies, watching his team fall again was enough to make rookie head coach Chris MacKenzie shudder. Niagara fell into an early 3-0 hole, but outplayed the Hockey East leaders much of the final 50 minutes.
“Give all the credit to Northeastern, the goaltending was spectacular and they are well-coached,” MacKenzie said. “We had too many mistakes early and allowed too many goals. It was too much of an uphill battle for us, but the effort was there.”
Niagara (8-10-4 overall) now has a 1-5-2 mark against ranked teams after earlier series with New Hampshire, Mercyhurst and Cornell.
The hosts watched the Huskies score in the first minute of play as Kristi Kehoe notched her 11th just 54 seconds after the face-off. Annie Hogan and Casey Pickett scored in a two-minute span later in the period and Northeastern (16-5-2) looked like it would have an lazy Sunday afternoon.
But the Purple Eagles got a goal from freshman Jenna Hendrikx to climb back into it and the Purple Eagles had a number of chances in the second to make things even tighter.
Instead, Northeastern goalie Florence Schelling was equal to the task, and Lindsay Berman’s marker gave the visitors a 4-1 lead.
Still, Niagara fought back again, getting a great goal from Frances McPhail as she caught the Huskies in a bad change, took a long feed from Alison Malty and broke in on Schelling. The senior roofed a great shot just under the corner where the crossbar and post meet, pulling the Purple Eagles back to within two.
But back-to-back checking calls on Eric Owczarczak and Caitlin Jenkins proved costly as Northeastern scored a power-play goal when Pickett got her second on a low shot that beat Niagara goalie Jenni Bauer. Both of Pickett’s two markers came with the man advantage.
“They ran a different power play than what we’re used to,” said MacPhail, who registered an assist on Hendrikx’s goal. “They spread it out wide, and we like to try to keep things in front of us and block shots. We did a pretty good job getting to most of them. But not all of them.”
In the third, Annie Hogan added another, giving the Huskies their final margin of victory.
Niagara now has a 1-5-2 mark against ranked teams after earlier series with New Hampshire, Mercyhurst and Cornell.
Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266.
