NCAA, Sports

The Cream of the Crop

Women's hockey sophomore foward Marie-Philip Poulin helped lead the Terriers to their first Frozen Four in program history last season.

In what was an eventful 2010-11 athletic year for Boston University, here are the past year’s top storylines:

1. Skating to greater heights

She was the star forward who netted both goals for the Canadian national team in the gold medal game against Team USA in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. She was nicknamed “the Sidney Crosby of women’s hockey” by the Canadian media as an 18-year-old. She is Marie-Philip Poulin, and when it was announced that she would take her talents to BU for the 2010-11 campaign, an air of excitement surrounded the BU women’s hockey team.

What Poulin and her teammates accomplished in the program’s sixth year of existence was nothing short of remarkable.

The Terriers defeated No. 6 Mercyhurst College in the NCAA quarterfinals and knocked off No. 2 Cornell University in the Frozen Four. BU then advanced to its first-ever national championship game, where it ultimately lost 4-1 to No. 1 University of Wisconsin.

2. Terriers go dancing; Holland etches name in Terrier lore

The date: March 12, 2011. The venue: Agganis Arena. The situation: Senior forward John Holland stepped up to the free-throw line with 2.4 seconds remaining in the America East Championship game. He calmly drained both attempts, propelling the BU men’s basketball team to a 56-54 victory over Stony Brook University and securing the Terriers’ first NCAA Tournament berth since 2002. Holland went on a 14-0 run of his own late in the contest that sparked the thrilling comeback and cemented his legacy as one of BU’s all-time greats.

In his first taste of March Madness, Holland dropped 15 points as 16th-seeded BU was behind by just four points to the No. 1 seed University of Kansas at halftime, but the Jayhawks overwhelmed the Terriers in the second half and coasted to a 72-53 win. The 2010-11 squad, according to its former coach Patrick Chambers, will be remembered as the one who finally “got [BU] over the hump.”  

3. Peace out, Coach Chambers

Chambers toiled endlessly in hopes of transforming a stagnant BU men’s basketball program into the “Gonzaga of the East.”

In his first two seasons at the helm, the 39-year-old bench boss was well on his way to ushering in a new era of BU hoops, guiding the Terriers to identical 21-win campaigns and an NCAA Tournament appearance. In early May, Chambers was rewarded with a two-year extension that would keep him on Comm. Ave. through the 2015-16 season.

Yet his successful track record and fiery personality had raised his profile around college basketball. Penn State University came calling, and its offer to Chambers was too good to pass up: a return home to his native state Pennsylvania, a move to the Big Ten Conference and a significant increase in his salary.

On June 5, he officially accepted the Nittany Lions’ head coaching position. Three weeks later, a former Boston College associate head coach took over the reins at BU. The Joe Jones Era is now upon us.
 
4. Women’s soccer stands tall

The loss of 2009 AE Goalkeeper of the Year Janie Reilly to graduation left a gaping hole in the net for BU coach Nancy Feldman’s women’s soccer team. She quickly filled that void by utilizing a goalie tandem of freshman Kelly King and junior Alice Binns throughout the season, and Feldman’s move paid major dividends for her club.

The Terriers posted 13 straight blank sheets and held their opponents scoreless for an unprecedented 1,260 minutes and 38 seconds – the second longest shutout streak in NCAA history. Co-captains Corie Halasz and Lina Cords anchored a stingy BU backline that surrendered an AE-low 12 goals in 22 matches.

However, BU saw its record-setting year come to an end in Newton, Mass., dropping a 2-1 decision to Boston College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. For their stellar efforts on defense during the season, King and Binns garnered the AE’s Rookie and Goalkeeper of the Year awards, respectively, while Halasz collected the Defender of the Year honors.

5. Parker’s squad’s fourth-place finish in the Beanpot

On the second Monday of February 2011, BU men’s hockey coach Jack Parker stood on the TD Garden ice with a blank expression on his face.

At that moment, his dejected players were walking back to the locker room following a disappointing 5-4 loss to Harvard University in the Beanpot consolation game. The defeat marked the Terriers’ first last-place finish in the annual four-team tournament since 1980.

“I thought that was an embarrassing display by my team,” Parker said afterward in his postgame presser.

Seven nights earlier, BU entered overtime deadlocked at 2-2 with its cross-town rival Boston College in the first round of the Beanpot. But the Eagles eventually prevailed when defenseman Tommy Cross notched a power-play goal at 3:17 of the extra frame, putting an abrupt end to the Terriers’ hunt for their 30th Beanpot title. BC’s second consecutive Beanpot championship didn’t quell Parker’s frustrations either.

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