In the Boston University women’s ice hockey record books, the first-year team’s past two games against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute should be filed under “rough weekend.”
This past road trip was nothing but that for a Terrier squad that was swept out of upstate New York, dropping the first game Friday night, 7-3, and the second on Saturday, 5-3.
“We didn’t do a very good job on defense,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “I don’t think we competed very well.”
And although the score doesn’t indicate it, Friday night was a more evenly fought game for the Terriers (4-4-3).
Freshman forward Nicki Wiart notched her fifth goal of the season at 5:25 into the first, assisted by freshman forward Laurel Koller and junior captain Cara Hendry. Freshman defenseman Sarah Russell then capitalized on a power play to put BU up, 2-0 at 12:46.
The second period opened. And Terriers came unraveled.
Wiart, incidentally, would be a part of the first and last goals of the night for the Terriers, notching an assist on freshman forward Erin Seman’s goal with just 41 second left in the second period.
However, the Engineers’ offense was just too much for the Terriers, netting five unanswered goals, starting with Jamie Jaquard-Sowa’s at 16:45 into the first.
The scoring onslaught continued in the second. Shorthanded at 3:45, freshman forward Nicole McDonald tied the game at 2-2. Three minutes later, junior forward Sarah Daniel put RPI (7-0-1) up. Freshman forward Emily Donowick then netted her first of two goals to add to the Terriers’ misery at 7:30.
Jennifer Onksen scored one of her own at 15:02 to put the game out of reach.
Seman’s goal at 19:19 in the second gave the Terriers some life, but was too little too late.
RPI wreaked havoc on BU’s defense in the first game, resulting in a goalie switch mid-game from freshman Karilyn Pilch to usual starter Allyse Wilcox.
“We were out-tempoed by them,” Durocher said. “I was most surprised by that.”
Saturday’s game was much of the same for the Terriers, who just couldn’t seem to make it happen. However, BU did provide its signature late-game comeback to make the game interesting.
RPI scored four goals throughout the first two periods to put the Terriers in 4-0 hole.
“RPI took it up to another level,” Durocher said. “I thought we could match their speed and intensity.”
With less than five minutes remaining in the third period, freshman forward Meaghan Ouimet slapped a shot past RPI goalie Emily Ford for her first career goal, putting the Terriers on the board.
“I would be hard-pressed to say that any one player stood out,” Durocher said. “But it was great that Meaghan got her first career goal.”
At 17:43 of the third, BU made it even more interesting when Kelly Karnan found the back of the net to bring the Terriers within two.
At 18:07 of the third, Jaquard-Sowa was sent to the penalty box and BU took advantage by pulling the goalie for an extra attacker. Freshman forward Genevieve Laing nailed a power play shot at 19:44, assisted by Koller and Gina Kearns to bring the deficit to 4-3.
But the empty net also gave the Engineers the chance to seal it, as Daniel slid the puck in with three seconds remaining in the game.
“I was disappointed in our club[‘s ability] to compete with them,” Durocher said. “It was not a very good effort in my eyes.”
This was the third loss in a row for the BU women.
“Honestly, we’ve just got to put this weekend on the shelf,” Durocher said. “We’ve got to focus on tightening up on whatever we’re doing on defense.”
With a Hockey East game coming up next weekend against the University of Connecticut, the Terriers will need to get their game back on track fast.
“When the ball starts rolling we tend to compete hard,” Durocher said. “But we have to bring our competition to 60 minutes, not the last five or the last 10 minutes of the game.”
Next weekend’s game against UConn marks the seventh and final game of the Terriers’ first extended road trip.
“It’s nice to be at home and nice to have that balance,” Durocher said. “But that’s not an excuse. We just need to do a better job than we did this weekend.”
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