BU women’s hockey team completes weekend sweep

It was a weekend of firsts for the Boston University women’s hockey team.

Fueled by a huge offensive performance from senior captain Louise Warren and goals from a few first-time scorers, the Terriers (6-1-1, 3-0-0 Hockey East) contained the University of New Hampshire on the road Fridayevening with a 3-1 victory before crushing the University of Vermont by a margin of 6-0 at home Saturdayafternoon.

The Wildcats (5-4-1, 1-2-1 Hockey East) got on the scoreboard first, as forward Haley Breedlove shot through a swarm of BU players and past senior goaltender Kerrin Sperry to put UNH up 1-0.

Sperry recovered, however, and made 11 saves in the rest of the first period.

Sophomore forward Sarah Lefort scored the equalizer at the 12:12 mark in the second period, tapping it in from the right post on a pass from junior forward Kayla Tutino.

With the score knotted up at one apiece, senior captain Louise Warren broke through 14:32 into the third period with a deke around a UNH defenseman and a backhand shot past Wildcat goaltender Vilma Vaattovaara.

After netting the game-winner, Warren sealed the final score with an empty-net goal with 15 seconds left in the game.

Back home at Walter Brown Arena against Vermont (3-5-1, 1-1-0 Hockey East) the next afternoon, the game was much less of a nail-biter.

Sophomore forward Dakota Woodworth put BU on the board early after picking up a loose puck and beating Vermont goalie Madison Litchfield to make the score 1-0.

At the 12:19 mark of the second period, junior forward Sarah Bayersdorfer buried a rebound for her first career goal.

“I may have blacked out at the end there,” Bayersdorfer said jokingly about the goal.

“She worked hard for it,” Warren said of Bayersdorfer’s goal. “She’s been working hard three years for that goal … she deserves all the glory for that one.”

Senior forward Meghan Riggs collected her first assist of the season, and freshman forward Natalie Flynn earned her first career point on the play, giving every BU skater who has received playing time this season at least one point.

Durocher said he was impressed by the play of the fourth line in Saturday’s game.

“Their confidence is growing,” Durocher said of the fourth line. “I think the staff’s confidence is growing, and to have those people ready when there’s injuries and/or to be able to play four lines in these back-to-back weekend games goes a long ways.”

Warren added to her terrific week by speeding past a Vermont defender just over a minute into the third period and backhanded the puck past Litchfield.

“When it was 2-0 and Louise Warren got that goal, that maybe not sealed the game completely but definitely put us in the right direction,” Durocher said. “That came off of two, three or four kids fighting by our crease, keeping the puck out of the net and getting up ice, and she made an individual play with her speed and her strength to get the goal.”

Just 3:03 later, Warren netted her second of the game to put BU up 4-0 — and, for the first time in her career, she secured back-to-back multi-goal games. It was her fifth goal in three games and her seventh of the season.

Sophomore defenseman Diana Bennett joined the scoring party 6:50 into the third period, backhanding a puck over Litchfield to push the score to 5-0.

With the game more than out of reach, Tutino added one final goal for BU with 3:43 remaining in the game.

Sperry had a gem of a performance in net, making 28 saves en route to her 12th career shutout and her first of the season, giving the Terriers their biggest margin of victory since Feb. 20.

Durocher said he was pleased with the team’s offensive output.

“You don’t expect to get four, five and six goals all the time,” Durocher said. “Tonight was a nice night for that.”

Warren echoed Durocher’s sentiments about the game, particularly the play late in the game.

“We build, we get better and better as the game goes on. It just shows the character of our team,” Warren said. “Our legs were a little shaky at the beginning but we just fought and got better and better. I’m proud of everyone.”