Quinnipiac Wins Opener, Edges Northeastern
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HAMDEN, CT -- Quinnipiac skated away with a 4-3 victory over Northeastern Friday night in its season opener at TD Banknorth Center in Hamden, Conn. The Bobcats, backed by goaltender Jamie Miller's 29-save effort, started the season 1-0 and Northeastern dropped to 0-2-1.
Quinnipiac jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead and never fell behind. The teams traded goals in a high-scoring second period that featured five goals. Karrah Stephen's (pictured) late middle-period goal made it a 4-2 game and proved to be the clinching tally.
Antoinette Maldonado opened the scoring with a breakaway goal after taking a pass from Brandice Moniz and beating Northeastern goalie Leah Sulyma at 16:16 of the first period. Elyse Cole added a goal, hitting the top shelf of the net on a hard wrist shot with just :58 seconds left in the opening stanza for a 2-0 advantage.
Chelsey Jones scored the first of her two goals, on the power play early in the second, to get Northeastern within 2-1 just 1:17 into the middle period. The Bobcats responded on Vicky Graham's shorthanded goal for a 3-1 lead at the 15:48 mark. Northeastern got back to within a goal at 3-2 on Nikki Petrich's power play tally at 17:03, only to see the Bobcats answer on Stephen's power play goal 54 seconds later. Moniz set up Stephen with a pass from behind the goal line. Jones scored again to get Northeastern within 4-3 heading to the third.
Neither team could find the net in the final period. Miller made 13 third-period saves alone as Northeastern outshot Quinnipiac 32-21. Sulyma stopped 17 shots as Northeastern finished the game with a 32-21 shots on goal advantage.
The Bobcats were 1-for-5 on the power play and Northeastern went 2-for-7.
Quinnipiac returns to action with another home game Saturday when the Boston College Eagles visit for a 3 p.m. faceoff.
