Boston, Mass. -- Junior goaltender Florence Schelling (Oberengstringen, Switzerland) recorded 44 saves, a new WHEA Tournament single-game record, to lead No. 5 seed Northeastern to a 4-2 victory against top seed Boston University in Women's Hockey East Tournament semifinal action on Saturday afternoon at Walter Brown Arena on the campus of BU.
Freshman Claire Santostefano (Wilmette, Ill.) recorded the go-ahead goal for the Huskies just 1:13 into the third period and senior forward Alyssa Wohlfeiler (Saugus, Calif.) notched her second goal of the game with 6:51 left to seal the win for Northeastern. The Huskies advance to their first WHEA Championship Game in school history.
The Huskies improved their record to 16-12-8 on the year, while the Terriers dropped to 25-6-4 overall. BU will await its fate in the NCAA tournament with the selection show tomorrow evening.
The Huskies took a 2-1 lead with 5:15 left in the second period as Julia Marty scored off a faceoff win by Rachel Llanes (San Jose, Calif.), after Wohlfeiler tied the game at 1-1 at 10:18 of the second period. Junior foward Jenn Wakefield (Pickering, Ont.) tied the game at 2-2 just over three minutes later with her league-leading 30th goal of the season.
BU had the advantage in the first period with a 15-3 edge in the shot ledger and they got on the scoreboard first with 4:04 remaining in the opening period on a tally by Wakefield, her 29th goal of the season for the Terriers. Wakefield scored on a spin around after an initial rush by Louise Warren (Pembroke, Ont.) and beat Schelling low glove side on the shot.
Freshman Kerrin Sperry (North Reading, Mass.) recorded 21 saves in the game for the Terriers, Schelling also set a tournament record for saves in a period with 24 stops in the opening frame. Schelling improved her record to 13-8-6 of the season.
Northeastern will face the winner of the No. 2 seed Boston College and No. 3 Providence College in the second semifinal at 3pm today. The two advancing teams will meet Sunday's WHEA Championship Game at Walter Brown Arena (1pm.) The game will be televised on NESN on tape delay at 4pm.
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
Postgame Quotes: Northeastern Head Coach Dave Flint (PDF Format)
Postgame Quotes: NU Players
Florence Schelling and Alyssa Wohlfeiler (PDF Format)
Postgame Quotes: Boston University Head Coach Brian Durocher (PDF Format)