Keri Bettenhauser-Pratt has been elected to the Northeastern University Hall of Fame for excellence in the sport of field hockey.
Bettenhauser, Class of 1999, ended her career as the number one point scorer in NU history and helped send her team to four NCAA tournament appearances. She arrived on Huntington Avenue in 1994 after a spectacular secondary school career at Shoreham-Wading River High School in Wading River, N.Y. There, she received 16 varsity letters in field hockey, basketball, and softball.
Her freshman year neither she nor the Northeastern field hockey team missed a beat. Bettenhauser had five goals and an assist for 11 points to be the highest scoring rookie that season both at NU and in the America East Conference. She was named to the conference's All-Rookie team. The Huskies finished the season 16-5-1, won the America East title for the fifth-straight season and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the sixth time in seven years.
Bettenhauser's sophomore season of 1995 was one of the finest ever for Northeastern. NU went 21-3 overall, won the America East crown, and with NCAA victories over Ball State (2-0) and Iowa (1-0), advanced to the Final Four, where NU fell to Maryland, 3-1. Bettenhauser scored 17 goals with three assists for 37 points, which ranked second for NU. She was voted to the All-Conference and the All-Tournament teams and was elected third team All-America. She had four game-winning goals that season, including the goal against Iowa that sent the Huskies to only their second Final Four competition.
The season of '96 was equally great. NU was 18-7, won another conference crown, and with wins over UMass (3-0) and UConn (3-1) hurdled to the Final Four. NU lost a heartbreaker to North Carolina (2-1) in the NCAA semifinals. Bettenhauser was again an All-Conference and All-Tournament selection. Her 20 goals and three assists for 43 points earned her second team All-America honors.
Her senior season, Bettenhauser scored 24 goals and had 14 assists for 62 points. The 24 goals tied an NU record the 62 points was good for second all-time in a season. Her career marks were an NU record of 153 points, on a second-place 66 goals and 21 assists. She was once again All-Conference and All-Tournament and added America East Player of the Year and first team All-America accolades. The team finished 17-4, won the America East title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. In Bettenhauser's career the Huskies were 72-19-1 with four conference crowns and four NCAA appearances.
