Despite a strong start and opening goal, the Catamounts came up short Friday night in a 5-3 loss to Hockey East opponent Northeastern University.Junior Viktor Stalberg had a goal and an assist for Vermont. Junior Brian Roloff had a goal as well as sophomore Justin Milo. For Northeastern, senior Ryan Ginand scored twice. Sophomore Tyler McNeely, freshman Alex Tuckerman and sophomore Steve Silva all had a goal and an assist. Vermont had a huge start in the game that resulted in a power play goal from Stalberg, assisted by Roloff and senior assistant captain Peter Lenes at 7:22 in the first period.Northeastern took back the momentum soon after and was able to score a shorthanded goal from McNeely to tie up the game. Vermont never seemed to get back on track.”The first 10 minutes may have been the best hockey we’ve played all year,” Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. “The last 10 minutes may have been the second best hockey we’ve played all year.”The Catamounts did score the final goal of the third period, with a power play goal from Milo, assisted by senior captain Dean Strong and senior assistant captain Corey Carlson.It wasn’t enough to take over the lead.”The team that played better won tonight,” Sneddon said. “We can’t be soft in front of our goalie and also take penalties.”Penalties were a huge problem for Vermont. Besides allowing the shorthanded goal to Mc?Neely, Vermont gave up two power play goals to Ginand. “We were fortunate to have power play opportunities,” Northeastern head coach Greg Cronin said. “That gave us confidence.””I think we’re a pretty good team at forgetting about the last game,” Milo said. “We need to do that even though it’s frustrating after a tough loss like this.”The Catamounts will head to Boston next weekend for a two-game set with the Terriers, who throttled UVM 7-2 on Nov. 1.