NEW HAVEN, CONN — Coming off a month away from the ice for the winter break, No. 6 ranked Northeastern hoped to get the second half of the 2025-26 campaign off on the right foot. However, Tuesday night’s bus ride back to Boston was destined to be somber and quiet after falling 3-0 to No. 13 Yale.
“[It was a] really, really bad game. We were terrible. Our execution was awful. I thought our effort was bad,” Associate Head Coach Nick Carpenito admitted candidly. “I thought [with] the mental mistakes we were making, it looked like a team that hadn’t played for a year as opposed to a month. … We need to be a heck of a lot better, especially if we want to make a run at a national tournament bid here, because this is not the way to do it.”
Yale, having already played two games in the New Year, had a step on Northeastern in every phase of the game, but particularly in the first period. It took just three minutes and one shot from Naomi Boucher — the first of the game — for the Bulldogs to take a 1-0 lead on the power play.
A few minutes later, Yale struck again with a goal from Emma McGowan created off a golden rebound that was left right in netminder Lisa Jönsson’s crease. Rebounds had been a consistent struggle for the sophomore goaltender at the beginning of the season. However, with success at the end of the first semester, it seemed that issue had been largely fixed. Unfortunately for the Huskies, puck control reared its ugly head once again on Tuesday.
With that being said, Jönsson bared the wear of subpar defensive play in front of her, facing 25 shots — many of which were difficult saves. Plus, with the aforementioned rebounds, the defense did little to support in front of their goaltender to clear out sticks, pucks, and bodies.
“We’re gonna let up rebounds if we let shots get through like that,” Carpenito explained. “But, the biggest problem with that — and it was a point of emphasis for us in the pre-scout: get D-side, get sticks up. We had a kid out front by herself; they’re gonna score. I can score a goal on the Boston Bruins if I’m out there by myself and I get enough [room out there], and I’m slow and old now. So, it was just poor, poor attention to detail on that goal as well.”
One could chalk Tuesday’s loss up to a team rusty from a month-long break being on the wrong side of a matchup with a fresh opponent. However, there are a few concerns that will persist for the Huskies: namely, the power play.
Despite firing at over 21% until Tuesday, Northeastern’s power play was a measly 0-3 against Yale and looked disjointed on the ice. The Huskies struggled to even possess the puck with the extra skater, let alone get offensive zone time or shots towards the cage. Northeastern had a golden opportunity at the beginning of the second period, spending the first six minutes of the frame with the advantage — including a 5-on-3 — but notched just two shots on net.
“[It was] really bad. Zero chemistry within the unit, zero execution,” Carpenito said. “We had two shots [on the power play], we had three shots [total] in the [second] period with seven minutes on [the] power play. That’s not good. That’s embarrassing, to be totally honest with you. So if anything, it hurt [our] momentum, as far as I’m concerned.”
With the loss, Northeastern falls to a record of 15-5-0. The Huskies will have three days to regroup before getting back to Hockey East play when they visit Providence Friday afternoon.
Luke Graham is the Digital Content Manager for WRBB Sports. He has covered Northeastern hockey and baseball with WRBB both on-air and in print for three years. Read all his articles here, and follow him on X here.