The Boston University women’s hockey team split a two-game series with the University of Vermont this weekend at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vt. BU dropped the first game, 2-1, on Friday in an overtime shocker but rebounded on Saturday, holding off a late Catamount charge to win it, 3-2.
The Terriers (10-7-8, 6-5-3-2), who have started 2010 with a 2-0-1 record, hit their first stumbling block Friday night against the Catamounts (7-17-1, 2-10-1-0).
Senior forward Melissa Anderson scored the lone goal for BU in the second period, after stealing the puck in the offensive zone and backhanding it over the shoulder of UVM goalie Kristen Olychuck.
It was Anderson’s fourth goal in four games.
‘Her play has been fantastic, and we expect her to be a leader. And she is a leader,’ BU coach Brian Durocher said. ‘She is the most competitive player on this team in my book. It’s great to see that some pucks have fallen because with the goal she got on Friday night she did a nice quick dribble to collect the puck and put the puck in an area just above the goalie’s shoulder.’
On given nights those things don’t go in, but of late there have been some good bounces and good position, and a lot of great hard work by her that have shown results. We are certainly keeping our fingers crossed that those results continue.’
It was the Catamounts, however, who had the last laugh. On the power play, Vermont junior Peggy Wakeham scored the overtime winner.
But BU rebounded on Saturday thanks to two first-period shorthanded goals by junior forwards Jillian Kirchner and Holly Lorms.
‘After the first night I was really concerned and knew [Vermont] would be really on a high and excited about the second game,’ Durocher said. ‘They came out well enough to draw a couple of early penalties and then we got a little bit of a bounce, a little bit of a jump and some individual efforts that were great. Jillian Kirchner and Holly Lorms getting the first two goals, shorthanded, were fantastic for our emotion and our psyche. It really kind of helped carry us through the game.’
BU was without sophomore defenseman Carly Warren, who suffered a knee injury in Saturday’s game. Sophomore forward Jenelle Kohanchuk was a healthy scratch, while Anderson only played the last half of the game.
Freshman goalie Alissa Fromkin got her fourth start of the season and notched her first collegiate victory with 16 saves.
‘Alyssa [Fromkin] has not played for a long time,’ Durocher said. ‘She’s been working hard. She’s part of this team here. We wanted to make sure we tried to find another game for her to play. I really like playing kids in important games, and she played at Wayne State [University], and against Providence [College], and the [University of] New Hampshire, so I am not afraid to do that. The fact that we’re playing four games in eight days, I thought it would be a good spot to give Melissa [Haber] just a little bit of a rest and have her ready to go come Tuesday.’
Senior Laurel Koller scored the eventual game winner in the third period, thanks to feeds by junior forward Lauren Cherewyk, and Kirchner.
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