Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Northeastern University got a pair of goals from sophomore Alyssa Wohlfeiler (Saugus, CA/California Selects) and the Huskies held on to edge past the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team, 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.