8-0 loss to Harvard? What 8-0 loss to Harvard?
The Boston University women’s hockey team all but wiped away any recollection of its lackluster Beanpot performance last Monday with a pair of wins over Hockey East foe the No. 9 University of Connecticut in a home-and-home series this weekend.
BU (14-10-6, 12-6-0 HE) picked up its first victory, 3-2, by way of a shootout on Friday at UConn (18-9-3, 10-6-1) before triumphing over the Huskies, 3-1, at Walter Brown Arena on Saturday.
The series started with a bang Friday night in Storrs, Conn. BU jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two periods on a pair of goals by sophomore forwards Lauren Cherewyk and Jillian Kirchner, with the latter’s tally coming on a power play.
However, the Huskies stormed back in the third with two goals of their own by freshman defenseman Sami Evelyn and junior forward Michelle Binning.
Overtime produced no golden goal, which, under the new women’s Hockey East rules, calls for a shootout. Said shootout lasted seven rounds, ending on a successful attempt by BU senior forward Caroline Bourdeau. Junior goalie Melissa Haber, who had a total of 30 saves, was instrumental in the shootout, making three stops in a row to set up Bourdeau’s eventual game-winner.
The prolonged ending of Friday night’s contest no doubt had an effect the next day, as both offenses struggled to get anything going early. In fact, at the 10-minute mark, the Terriers and Huskies were only able to muster a measly two shots each.
The offensive action eventually began to pick up, but the defenses held strong. BU senior goalie Allyse Wilcox made several great saves ‘-‘- 11 in total in the period ‘-‘- including one save for the highlight reel, made with the steel of her skate.
The second stanza saw the outset of a much more offensive contest. Two and a half minutes into the period, BU lit the lamp first on a well-executed play by senior forward Laurel Koller. Koller skated, puck in tow, into the left corner of the BU offensive zone.
Running out of real estate, the senior sent a perfect centering pass to junior forward Jonnie Bloemers, who easily redirected the puck into the back of the net for her fifth goal on the season.
Almost a minute later, UConn answered to tie the game up at one with a goal by freshman left winger Monique Weber. With the precision of an Olympic marksman, Weber placed a wrist shot just above the Wilcox’s glove.
BU pulled ahead again with 30 seconds to go in the second after gaining the power play on a UConn holding penalty by senior Brianna Uliasz. The man advantage allowed freshman defenseman Tara Watchorn, alone at the blue line, to send a low-flying shot that senior Amada Shaw was able to tip past UConn senior goalie Brittany Wilson.
Watchorn earned her second point on the evening five minutes into the third when a bouncing puck in front of the net eventually found her stick at the right faceoff circle. The freshman sent a wrist into the net for the game’s final score.
The game was arguably the best in Watchorn’s young career, something that did not go unnoticed by BU coach Brian Durocher.
‘I’ve been happy with how’s she played all year, but today was a game where she kept it simple,’ Durocher said. ‘Sometimes when you’re young, you have a lot of responsibilities, and it’s hard, but she was spot on as far as her responsibilities and keeping the game simple. That’s a nice thing to have.’
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
