BURLINGTON, Vt. - Kendall Coyne recorded a natural hat trick as the Northeastern Huskies defeated Vermont 6-3 at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Hockey East action Sunday afternoon.
The Catamounts opened the scoring 12:51 into the first period on the power play. Amanda Pelkey kept a clearing attempt in the Northeastern zone and Erin Wente corralled the loose puck and fed Pelkey with a pass as she cut towards the net. From a tough angle Pelkey scored her fifth goal of the season with a sweet backhand past Northeastern goaltender Kelsey O'Sullivan.
Just under two minutes later the Catamounts doubled their lead on a two-on-one. Brittany Zuback fed a pass to evade the Huskies defender to Gina Repaci who beat O'Sullivan with a wrist shot right in front. Zuback picked up her team leading 20th point on Repaci's second goal of the season.
The Catamounts extended the lead to three goals early in the second period. Kellie Dineen fired a shot towards the net and junior forward Danielle Rancourt knocked the puck out of mid-air past O'Sullivan for her sixth goal of the season. Emily Walsh picked up the secondary assist on the tally 2:57 into the period.
Katie MacSorley got the Huskies on the board 8:03 into the second period. She walked into the Vermont zone and beat Roxanne Douville with a wrist shot labeled for the top corner.
Coyne cut Vermont's lead to one on the power play at the 14:46 mark of the second period. She skated into the slot and her wrist shot found the back of the net through traffic.
Coyne tied the game with 45 seconds left in the second period. Off a faceoff win by Rachel Llanes Coyne one-timed a wrist shot past Douville for second goal of the afternoon.
Coyne scored on an incredible individual effort 45 seconds into the third period for the natural hat trick to give the Huskies their first lead of the afternoon. Coyne beat Douville one-on-one with a backhand shot while being harassed by a Vermont defender from behind.
At 2:07 mark of the third period the Huskies added another goal on the power play. Kelly Wallace kicked a loose puck in front of the net from her skate to her stick and slipped it past Douville for her ninth goal of the season.
After the Huskies fifth goal Vermont switched goaltenders as senior Kelci Lanthier came in for Douville (30 saves).
Northeastern stretched its lead to three goals during an extended run of four-on-four play. Rachel Llanes scored her tenth goal of the season, as she corralled a loose puck in front of Lanthier.
O'Sullivan made 24 saves to earn her third win of the season. Lanthier made 10 saves for Vermont in the relief effort.
"It was disappointing to let the game get away from us after a great first half," said head coach Jim Plumer. "Northeastern really grabbed the momentum and we weren't able to respond. On a positive note, we controlled much of the play for the first 30 minutes but it's very disappointing to not be able to play a complete 60 minutes."
Vermont returns to action next weekend at Gutterson Fieldhouse as they host New Hampshire in a pivotal two-game Hockey East series. The Catamounts will host the Wildcats at 7 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.