Rensselaer Cannot Get Past Northeastern
TROY, N.Y. –- Northeastern got a pair of goals from
sophomore Alyssa Wohlfeiler (Saugus, CA/California Selects) and the
Huskies held on to edge past Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
(RPI), 3-2, in the regular season opener for both squads. The game,
which saw all five goals scored on the power play, was played in
front of a crowd of nearly 500 fans in Pack the House Night at the
Houston Field House.
The Huskies jumped out to the early lead after Wohlfeiler found the
loose puck in a pile up in front of the net and slid it underneath
RPI netminder Ashley Mayr (Burnaby, BC/BC Breakers) at 2:32.
Sophomore Julia Marty (Nussbaumen, Switz./New Hampshire), who fed
the puck from the top of the left circle, and freshman Ali
Bielawski (Needham, MA/Assabet Valley) were credited with the
assists.
Northeastern made it a two-goal advantage mid-way through the frame
after a shot from the top of the left circle bounced off the pad of
Mayr and onto the stick of sophomore Kristy Kehoe (Bakersfield,
CA/California Selects). Kehoe sent a quick wrist shot over
Mayr’s glove side for the goal.
In the middle stanza, Wohlfeiler tallied her second of the game at
3:17 after corralling a cross ice pass from Marty, who was
positioned in the far circle. Marty slid into the slot and lifted
the shot top shelf over the shoulder of Mayr. Kehoe was also
awarded a helper on the tally.
Rensselaer cut the Huskies advantage to two (3-1) at the 8:06 mark
when senior Jamie-Lynn Stewart (Cambridge, ON/Cambridge Jr. Fury)
stole the puck off the stick of a Huskies defender and made her way
into the slot. Her shot careened off the pads of goalie Florence
Schelling (Obrengstringen, Switzerland/Swiss National Team) but
Engineers freshman Laura Guillemette (Ste-Marie-de-Beauce, PQ/Notre
Dame) was there to bury the rebound on the right side for her first
collegiate goal.
The Engineers came out firing in the final period and pulled to
within 3-2 with less than three minutes to play. Freshman Sierra
Vadner (Apple Valley, MN/Minnesota Thoroughbreds) tallied the first
goal of her collegiate career after her shot from the point sailed
through traffic and past Schelling at 17:03. Junior Whitney Naslund
(Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson) was credited with the
assist.
Nearing the end of the game, both teams found themselves with a
player in the penalty box. Rensselaer pulled Mayr in favor of the
extra attacker but was unable to capitalize. Naslund made a great
save as she blocked a shot by Huskies junior Katy Applin (Palmer,
AK/North American Hockey Academy) in front of the empty net to keep
Northeastern from scoring.
With under nine seconds left on the clock, the Engineers pulled
Mayr once again, but were unable to break through the Huskies
defense for the equalizer.
Rensselaer, which held a 40-17 advantage in shots for the game, saw
Mayr make 14 stops in the loss. Schelling posted 38 saves in the
victory, including 16 in the first period and 11 in both the second
and the third frame. The win was Northeastern’s first over
RPI in three meetings dating back to the 2006-07 season.
The Engineers return to action tomorrow afternoon when it hosts
Boston University at 2pm. Northeastern heads across Route 7 to
battle area-rival Union at 4pm.












