The Boston University women’s hockey team is still on the hunt for its first win of the annual Beanpot tournament as a varsity program after a 4-3 overtime loss Tuesday night to No. 4 Boston College.
This is the fourth time the Terriers (11-15-6, 6-11-5 Hockey East) have appeared in the Beanpot finals since becoming a varsity program.
The Eagles (26-3-3, 17-2-3 Hockey East) were quick to strike first.
Freshman forward Daryl Watts, assisted by senior defenseman Toni Ann Miano and sophomore forward Caitrin Lonergan, scored her 38th goal of the season with less than three minutes into the game.
Watts’ goal was followed up by a tally from junior forward Molly Slowe 10 minutes later.
The Terriers were not short on chances in the first period, but they could not manage to get any of their 10 shots on net past senior goaltender Katie Burt.
Going into the second period, BU head coach Brian Durocher had one word for the Terriers: glide.
“I said I don’t think we can glide anymore,” Durocher said. “We glided a couple times in the first period. We had grade-A chances, it might have been 4-3 us for grade-A chances, but they capitalized.”
The story was not the same for the second period, when BU dominated play and scored its three goals of the game.
The first two goals, scored by senior forward Victoria Bach and junior defenseman Reagan Rust were only 45 seconds apart.
Rust’s goal came just 12 seconds after the start of BU’s second power play of the game. Her goal was her fifth of the season. Bach’s was her 35th of the season and 100th overall, making her the 22nd player in NCAA history to achieve such a feat.
For Durocher, Bach’s success on the team has not solely been based on her own play.
“She’s one of those kids who always found somebody to get in her shadow just a little bit, from [Marie-Philip] Poulin to, maybe, Rebecca Leslie in her sophomore year, to Mary Parker last year,” Durocher said. “Yet, all three years over 20 goals. She was the leading scorer last year points-wise and this year she’s just gone a little bit crazy, and I think she would tip a lot of that credit to Rebecca Leslie.”
BU’s third and final goal of the night came just four minutes and 16 seconds after Rust’s goal.
Senior forward and captain Rebecca Leslie pushed the Terriers ahead of the Eagles with a goal of her own at 8:16 in the second frame, assisted by Bach and sophomore defenseman Breanna Scarpaci.
The third period opened with dominant play from BC, but its tying goal came late into the matchup.
With only four minutes and eight seconds left in the third period, Watts struck again, firing a goal past BU freshman goaltender Corinne Schroeder to even the score at three.
Chances for both the Terriers and the Eagles left each teams’ defensive units scrambling to prevent a fourth goal in the last minutes of the frame. They emerged successful and the game went into overtime.
A power play opportunity came early in overtime for BU following a penalty on BC defenseman Caroline Ross, but the team could not profit.
Shortly after the conclusion of BU’s power play, a chance in front of the net for the Eagles by freshman forward Maegan Beres left Terrier sophomore defenseman Abby Cook diving in front of Schroeder to block the shot.
However, Beres was unable to find the back of the net.
Schroeder finished the night with 30 saves.
The final goal came at 14:57 on a BC power play chance after redshirt sophomore defenseman Abbey Stanley was sent to the box for tripping. Miano, assisted by junior forward Makenna Newkirk and senior forward Kenzie Kent, scored her first goal of the night with a wrister that went straight into the back of the net.
This marked the third consecutive and eighth overall Beanpot championship win for the Eagles.
Although it was a tough loss for the Terriers, Durocher said he was still proud of how his team played.
“They played as hard as they could all of the way through,” Durocher said. “I don’t think the Eagles were playing good or we were playing bad, but we gave them a couple of loose pucks, missed an assignment on that second goal, and then the kids really fought back.”
