STORRS, Conn. — After Friday night’s 4-2 win over UConn, Northeastern was bound to face a tough challenge in their Saturday matinee rematch. This challenge, in the form of 45 shots on goal, was not enough for UConn to find the back of the net, as Northeastern secured a 1-0 victory off the stick of freshman Ella Lloyd with 15 seconds left in regulation and completed the weekend sweep.
“[Jönsson] was amazing,” said Northeastern head coach Dave Flint. “We had great goaltending; both goalies were awesome this weekend, and that’s what we need moving forward.”
Saturday’s game was characterized by an abundance of scoring opportunities on both sides — with UConn outshooting Northeastern 45-33 — but an equal struggle to finish on their opportunities. This was especially prevalent in the first period, most notably for Northeastern when sophomore forward Morgan Jackson was shut down in a penalty shot attempt and when freshman forward Stryker Zablocki hit the crossbar on a wide-open howitzer shot.
In the second period, UConn came out strong, settling into the offensive zone and peppering sophomore goaltender Lisa Jönsson with shots. Momentum swung in Northeastern’s favor in the latter half of the frame, as they generated multiple high-quality scoring chances, including a backdoor shot from graduate student forward Jaden Bogden that barely clung to the goal line following an astonishingly acrobatic save from UConn graduate student goalie Tia Chan.
On top of their slow start, Northeastern also struggled to stay out of the penalty box in the second period. They went on the penalty kill twice in the frame, with an early tripping call on Morgan Jackson and a late roughing call on junior defender Rylie Jones. Senior forward Lily Shannon also took a matching penalty with UConn forward Christina Walker for roughing.
Shannon had a strong start to the third period, though, as the road Huskies started the period off by killing the remainder of Jones’s roughing minor. Shannon made two big plays during that sequence, where she broke up a zone entry, then later cleared a loose puck away from the net before a UConn player could capitalize. As a result of Northeastern’s penalty killing efforts, they now have the fourth best penalty kill percentage in the country at 88.2%.
UConn started strong in the third period again, giving themselves numerous chances to break the scoreless tie. However, despite all of the looks they were generating in front of the net, they just couldn’t seem to find the back of it, largely due to the efforts of Jönsson.
Just like in the middle frame, Northeastern once again saw the game turn in their favor in the late stages of the third period, as they started to put significantly more pressure on UConn and Chan. This time, it turned the tide.
With just 15 seconds left in regulation, Northeastern freshman defender Ella Lloyd received a pass across the blue line from Rylie Jones, creating an open shot for herself by toe dragging around UConn forward Sadie Hotles before firing a top-left-corner shot past the glove of Chan to give Northeastern the lead.
“I just saw [Chan] go down and I was like, ‘You know what, I’m going to try something,’ and it worked out,” Lloyd said.
The goal was the third of the season for the rookie defender, who now owns a total of six points from the blue line.
“She’s been playing a big role for us all year,” Flint said. “She’s a freshman but she plays like a veteran. She was so calm and poised with the puck on that goal.”
Despite one last rush from UConn with an extra attacker, Northeastern held on for a 1-0 win, as Jönsson earned her fourth shutout of the season and the eleventh of her collegiate career. Jönsson’s 45 saves also set her new career high for saves in a single game, beating her previous high of 37, which also came during a 1-0 shutout win over UConn last season.
With Northeastern’s weekend sweep against UConn, they widened their Hockey East first-place margin, putting them in first place in the conference by 12 points. Their record in conference play improves to 15-1-0, while their overall record improves to 20-6-0.
“The start of the second half was slow,” Flint said. “This should give us a big boost.”
Northeastern will be back in action Thursday, January 29, for a home matchup against Holy Cross at Walter Brown Arena. Daisy Roberts and Zeno Minotti will be live on WRBBSports+ when the puck drops at 7 p.m.
Kabir Singh is a second-year student at Northeastern University. He is a hockey writer and broadcaster for WRBB Sports. Read all his articles here