"Welcome to the jungle it gets worse here every day ...", yes indeed.  Sunday
afternoon at Matthews Arena the Northeastern Huskies beat the Big Green of
Dartmouth 5-2.  It was not a compelling match although it featured two
previously undefeated teams.  Both squads played some pretty tentative hockey.
In the end, NU's superior firepower let the Husky's maintain their 100% record
in the ECAC League.
 
The lethargic first period featured a lot of standing around and reaching for
the puck.  Dartmouth scored early when Lauren Trottier (Jen Wiehn, Christine
Szarek) finished off a play from behind the net.  The NU defense had been slow
to react to the play.  In the closing minutes of the first, Northeastern tied
the match when Hilary Witt (Jaime Totten) made a solo dash.  Witt went up the
right wing, closed in on net and blew her shot past the keeper.
 
In the second, NU turned up the volume when Witt (Totten, Emily Pemrick)
knocked home a rebound to put the Huskies in front.  The play had been kept in
at the blue line and Witt followed the long range shot up the gut.
Dartmouth's Sarah Hood (Emilie Schnitman, Sara Nelson) made a huge individual
effort when she brought the puck out of the corner, took it behind the net and
jammed the puck home to tie the game at two.  Stephanie Acres (Jennie Setaro)
regained the lead for NU when she banged in a rebound.  Setaro made the play
happen by stepping up and intercepting the puck.  She then hit turbo to get in
on net and took the initial shot.  Crystal Baumgartner (Jennifer Santerre,
Kathryn Waldo) gave the Huskies a two goal advantage when she drove a rebound
into a wide-open goal.  The Dartmouth defense was guilty of napping.
 
In the final interval, neither team was surging.  Both looked bushed.
Northeastern's Witt finished the scoring when she stuffed home a shorthanded
effort.  Witt had stolen the puck, circled the net and waited for the keeper
to go down.
 
Will the real Dartmouth Women's Ice Hockey Team please stand up?  The fragile
collection I saw today was nothing like the very talented side I watched on
Saturday at Harvard.  Big Green had trouble all afternoon trying to break the
puck out of its own zone, while NU was making a line change and there was no
opponent there.  Weird!  The only line playing well was that of Wiehn,
Trottier and Szarek.  They were rolling together and made some nice
connections.  Hood also played big, showing much persistence in trying to lead
her team out of the wilderness.  This is Dartmouth's first league loss, and I
am positive they will play better than they did today.
 
The Northeastern team speed did not look good.  There was way too much sloppy
play by the Huskies.  It was good to see the slick coaching move to sneak on
less accomplished defenders during the penalty kills to get them some solid
experience.  The woman of the match was defender Totten.  The junior co-
captain was all over the ice with her dominant skating.  Totten's ability to
read the play, make the interception and send her team forward was excellent.
First-year blue liner Jessica Ferwerda came up with some pretty good plays.
Given time to settle she could develop into a fine defender.  Up front, Witt
was the leader with her hat trick.  The classic power forward, she cruised up
the ice and gunned her chances.  Pemrick used her speed exceptionally well and
was the top fore-checker.  Sarah Smythe looked very good today and pushed her
line forward.  First-year forwards Betsy Dyke, Colleen Coen, Santerre and Beth
Claggett showed a lot of promise as they started to buzz around within the
Husky system.  Overall, NU will need a faster tempo if it hopes to remain
unbeaten when it travels North to UNH and Colby in two weeks.
 
 
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 good shooting
 hungerf
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