Saturday afternoon at Matthews the Northeastern Huskies blitzed the Saints of
St Lawrence 9-2.  NU used some brilliant passing that created tons of open
space to claim victory.  SLU looked like they were having an off day.
 
The game opened at a pedestrian pace.  Gradually the Husky playmaking started
to pressure St Lawrence.  NU defender Jaime Totten (Emily Pemrick, Hilary
Witt) got an early score when she banked a rebound, with her backhander, into
the far top shelf.  Pemrick (Stephanie Acres, Totten) made it 2-0 Northeastern
when she was left unmarked, and dumped a large rebound into an empty net.
 
At the start of the second, the Saints struck quickly.  Nicole Kirnan
(Kristina Heyes) worked a 2 on 1 power play break up the left wing, closed on
goal and buried her shot at the near post.  From that point on, the Huskies
dominated the period.  SLU was left watching and chasing.  Jennie Setaro
(Witt, Acres) regained the NU two goal advantage.  The play was made by the
digging of Acres in the corner, and while she was tied up, she managed to make
a marvelous centering pass.  Witt (Pemrick, Acres) drilled her chance after
the perfect setup pass from Pemrick to make it 4-1 Northeastern.  Witt
(Jessica Ferwerda, Pemrick) scored again when she concluded a clinical set
piece.  Totten (Beth Claggett) notched the next NU goal when she followed up a
wonderful surging move by fresher Claggett.  Betsy Dyke (Keri-Anne Allan,
Colleen Coen) made it 7-1 NU when she deflected a point shot through the
goalie's legs.
 
The final period was pretty tame.  The Saints cranked their game up a tad, but
Northeastern was in control.  Fresher blue liner Ferwerda (Coen, Dyke) drilled
home her try from the slot, on set play 3b.  Kathryn Waldo (Totten, Sarah
Smythe) redirected a blast from the point to make it 9-1 NU.  St Lawrence
closed out the scoring with a power play goal from Caroline Trudeau (Heyes,
Kirnan).  The nice slot setup pass found the Huskies rather careless in their
marking.
 
I don't know if St Lawrence was saving it today for tomorrow's big match at
Harvard, or what?  The Saints were slow and the passing was not clicking.
Their defensive zone coverage had many problems.  It seemed to me like all the
players were trying to play one style.  However that plan did not let the
natural talents have a chance to perform.  I was very impressed with fresher
forward Kirnan.  She hit the jets several times and showed some interesting
attacking ideas.  Overall, I expected more from SLU.
 
Northeastern used this game well.  They worked on their execution.  The
variations they created on some of their plays was excellent.  While there was
a lot of scoring, I was taken by the tremendous play of the blue liners.
Totten led the way with her fantastic marking and timely rushes.  Her partner,
Ferwerda made some important interceptions and dug back well when needed.
Allan's sorties were splendid.  Kim Beneduce pushed up well and made some
fine, quick feeds.  Erine Metcalf played a strong game at center field as her
speedy companion Setaro darted here and there with her superb skating.  Up
front the Huskies were led by the big line of Pemrick, Acres and Witt.  They
aren't totally on song, but things are starting to click for the talented
trio.  The woman of the match was senior captain Pemrick.  She played a very
heads-up game.  When Pemrick moves and goes for goals, her passing is
superior.  Overall a good win as NU starts the build up for the final push.
 
 
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 good shooting
 hungerf
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