FINAL SCORE: No. 3 Northeastern 5, Vermont 1
BOSTON – A natural hat trick by Veronika Pettey distanced the third-ranked Northeastern Huskies (19-3-3, 17-2-2 WHEA) from the Vermont Catamounts (7-16-4, 5-13-2 WHEA) in the final game of the regular season series Saturday afternoon at Matthews Arena.
 
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Box Score

COACH'S QUOTE
"Credit to Northeastern who grabbed the momentum back from us after we tied it in the second," said head coach Jim Plumer. "Our team battled hard to the end as they always do and while we lost both games this weekend, we certainly feel that we competed strongly with the No. 3 team in the country."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Northeastern jumped out to a 1-0 lead before the midway point of the first period when Andrea Renner circled the Catamounts' net and stuffed a wraparound attempt through the pads of Melissa Black (31 saves).
• UVM had a few chances to tie the game up before the first intermission. Taylor Flaherty fired a shot on goal and Corinne McCool collected the rebound, but was tied up before she could get a shot off. Minutes later, Theresa Schafzahl walked in to the slot and wired a wrist shot that narrowly missed the Northeastern goal.
• With 1:06 left in the opening frame, Northeastern's Tori Sullivan was delivered a five-minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head. This gave the Catamounts a lengthy opportunity to get the equalizer, which carried into the second period. Vermont had chances from Schafzahl and Alyssa Gorecki, but were denied by Aerin Frankel (17 saves).
• Eventually the Catamounts were successful in tying the game when Flaherty registered her third goal of the season. Abby Cleary carried the puck into the Northeastern zone and paused at the top of the circle before threading a pass through traffic to the Vermont defender who cut in front of the net and deflected the puck over Frankel's shoulder.
• The Huskies responded with three goals in the final nine minutes of the second period to distance themselves from Vermont. Renner tallied her second of the day and Pettey added her first two goals to go up 4-1.
• Pettey netted her third of the game when she poked a loose puck across the goal line with 3:45 left in regulation.

WHAT'S NEXT
Vermont returns to action Friday (Feb. 1) for the Pack the Gut challenge presented by Windjammer. Join the Catamounts as they try to break the women's Hockey East attendance record (2,136 fans) when they host the Boston University Terriers, 7 p.m. at Gutterson Fieldhouse. All tickets are on sale for $2 with proceeds going to Kayla's Directory.  
 
The Windjammer and Upper Deck Pub is the presenting sponsor of the 2018-19 women's hockey season