BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A third period goal by Kate Lesniak (Buffalo, N.Y.) gave Vermont a 3-3 overtime tie with Northeastern in women’s college hockey at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The point earned from the draw was the first for the Catamounts (2-8-1, 0-4-1 Hockey East) in Hockey East action this season.
Three times on the afternoon Vermont answered goals by Northeastern capped by Lesniak, who converted a nice feed from Kristi Anderson (Naperville, Ill.), for her first goal of the season with just under 13 minutes left in regulation.
"This was a very important point for us and it is something we hope we can bulid on," said Vermont head coach Tim Bothwell. "We showed strong character by battling back from all three of their goals. It was a good effort and we played with a lot of intensity. If we play this way again, I think we can win a few games."
Annie Hogan opened the scoring just two minutes into the game pouncing on a rebound of Ginny Berg’s shot. Danielle Ramirez (Huntington Beach, Calif) answered for the Catamounts at 7:50 with her first goal of the season on an assist from Chelsea Furlani (Colchester, Vt.). After the Huskies took a 2-1 lead at 11:55 on a goal by Chelsey Jones, Furlani, on assists from Karen Sentoff (Liverpool, N.Y.) and Ashley Keane (Sherborn, Mass.), scored her team-high third goal just 34 seconds later to tie the game again.
Colleen Sanborn’s power play goal midway through the second period gave Northeastern a 3-2 edge heading into the final stanza before Lesniak tallied the equalizer. Anderson started the play picking up a loose puck near the blue line along the right wing boards. Her pass found Lesniak skating down the middle and Lesniak's wrist shot from the high slot beat NU goalie Stacey Scott.
Both teams had several good scoring chances late in regulation and in the overtime session. The best was by Vermont’s Keane, whose hard drive from the top of the left face off circle was stopped by Scott with 30 seconds left in the contest.
The Catamounts outshot the Huskies, 28-23, for the game but were hurt by going 0-9 on the powerplay. Northeastern converted one of its five chances.
UVM’s Shivaun Siegl (Livonia, N.Y.) stopped 20 shots while Scott made 25 saves for Northeastern (2-7-1, 1-3-1).
Vermont continues its homestand hosting Boston University Sunday at 4:00pm at Gutterson Fieldhouse. For ticket information, please contact the UVM Athletic Ticket Office at 1-866-4CAT-TIX or log on to uvmathletics.com. UVM students (with a valid ID) and all Rally’s Roundup members are admitted free to all home women’s hockey games.
Sunday’s game is this season’s first Hannaford Hockey East Kid’s Club and Rally’s Round Up Day, when all children who are members of either club are admitted free. The first 150 fans Sunday also will receive a copy of the 2006-07 Vermont team poster courtesy of the UPS Store Downtown Burlington. Following the game all fans are invited to ‘Skate With The Cats’ and all the Catamounts will be available for an autograph session.