(20Nov98)  Friday evening at Matthews, the Northeastern Huskies defeated the
Cornell Big Red 3-1.  It was a thoroughly forgettable affair with few
perceptive plays.
 
The contest began with Northeastern surging forward into the Big Red zone.
Hilary Witt (Brooke Whitney, Nicole Lewis) finished a nice NU power play setup
when she banged home Whitney's cross-ice pass at the far post.  Neither team
was looking sharp.
 
In the second, the pattern continued, but Cornell started to look somewhat
stronger.  The Big Red slowly moved forward and began to be dangerous.  The
Husky scoring enigma lingered.  In the dying seconds, fresher Brooke White
(Lewis, Lisa Giovanelli) poked in what must have been the fifth rebound,
during an NU power play.  Cornell goalie Alanna Hayes deserved better support.
 
As the final period unfolded, Big Red was looking much improved with its
breakouts and checking game.  Colette Bredin (Danielle Bilodeau) drilled her
chance after a lovely point-high circle setup on a power play.  At that moment
it looked like Cornell might have the momentum to tie the match.  Instead, in
the final minutes, sophomore defender Jessica Ferwerda (Jennifer Santerre,
Beth Claggett) surprised everyone with a powerful rising slapper from the
point to give Northeastern a 3-1 victory.
 
Cornell did very well considering they were playing 2.333 lines to NU's 4.  It
was remarkable that Big Red looked stronger in the final interval.  I do
believe they would be more potent if that good third line saw regular ice
time.  Strip-mining the power play units doesn't cut it.  Striker Alison
Stewart made some nice passes and led her line forward.  Bredin has a cannon
of a shot and often looked deadly.  On the blue line, Patricia Kemp used her
controlled defensive sense to tidy things up.  Bilodeau anticipated play
extremely well.  She played her heart out and was a huge asset for Big Red.
Hayes did well to create goalie order out of the chaos in front of her.  She
held her team in the match.  Overall, Cornell is going to be a tough team for
others to crack.
 
"They were stupid enough to [play loud pop music], and unfortunate enough to
[think that was a plus]."
 
 _____________
/
 good shooting
 hungerf
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