With its overtime loss at the Beanpot officially behind them, the No. 9 Boston University women’s hockey team is ready to take on the University of Connecticut for its last series of the regular season.
“We’re shooting as high as we can, but I don’t see any added pressure,” said BU coach Brian Durocher.
In the home-and-home series, the Terriers (18-13-1, 12-7 Hockey East) will look to complete a sweep of the Huskies (4-21-7, 3-13-3 Hockey East), a team they defeated 4-2 earlier in the season.
In their last outing, the Terriers scored a combined 12 goals, coming from seven different players, in their weekend series against the University of Vermont. BU traveled to Burlington, Vt. to complete a Catamount season sweep.
In the first game against their Hockey East comrades, the Terriers slipped past the Catamounts with an 8-4 victory, scoring half of their goals in the third period.
Junior forward Isabel Menard opened the game with her fourteenth tally of the season. Then 10 minutes later, Menard struck again with the first of two power-play goals the Terriers would earn in the contest.
“I think we’ve stayed pretty consistent,” Durocher said of the team’s power-play performance. “The last number of games, we’ve had a pretty good run.”
Junior forward Shannon Mahoney added her second tally of the season to enhance the Terriers’ lead, and close out the scoring in the first frame.
The second period served as a quiet intermission between the two bookend frames, with BU scoring just one goal from senior captain Jenn Wakefield. However, the Catamounts wasted no time, scoring three goals to come within one of the Terriers.
Yet, a UVM comeback was not in the cards. BU came out strong in the final frame, opening the period with a goal from junior forward Jill Cardella. Two minutes later, junior forward Taylor Holze got in on the action with her fifth goal of the season.
To close the four-minute span, sophomore forward Louise Warren earned the second power-play goal of the game when she redirected a shot from junior defenseman Kathryn Miller.
Wakefield finished off the scoring when she scored her 21st goal after the Catamounts pulled Douville in favor of an extra offensive player.
In their second victory over the Catamounts, the Terriers again earned half of their points in the third period, defeating UVM 4-1.
“Every coach wants the first goal of the game,” Durocher said of the team’s third period production. “It’s a huge goal and a cushion in case the team makes runs and puts you on your heels.”
This time, the Terriers gave up just one goal to the Catamounts, sandwiching it with four goals of their own. BU did not rely as much on its power play in the second contest, only scoring one power-play tally.
Watchorn opened the scoring with the lone goal of the first period on a feed from Holze, before Wakefield began the second period with an unassisted goal, her third of the season.
The Terriers broke away from the Catamounts in the third period with goals from Mahoney and Wakefield, with Wakefield’s coming, once again, on an open net.
BU was 2-for-11 on the power play and 8-for-10 on its penalty kill, where it is sixth in the nation just behind fifth-ranked Connecticut.
“We’ve been more consistent getting pucks to the net, not using fancy play and getting good bounces,” Dorucher said.
The Huskies are recovering from a 6-2 loss at the hands of No. 4 Boston College. The Huskies scored their two goals against BC on shots from defensemen Sami Evelyn and Maggie Walsh.
UConn went 1-for-1 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
BU defeated Connecticut 4-2 in the teams’ last dog-pound clash. Scoring began 10:30 into the second period on a goal from UConn freshman Emily Snodgrass, who leads Connecticut with 12 points this season.
BU did not answer until 5:59 into the final frame on a power-play goal from Watchorn. The Huskies answered two minutes later with a second goal from Snodgrass. The remaining three goals came from BU, one from Menard, one short-handed from freshman forward Kayla Tutino and one on an empty net from Menard.
Sophomore goaltender Braly Hiller was between the pipes for the Terriers, recording 24 saves against the Huskies.
BU was 2-for-6 on the power play, recording 21 shots during its man advantages.
“I have great confidence offensively,” Durocher said. “I have great confidence in our talent.”
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