The Boston University women’s hockey team never trailed Mercyhurst College on the way to its first NCAA tournament victory in program history, winning 4-2 on Saturday to advance to the Frozen Four.
The third-seeded Terriers (26-6-4) hosted the sixth-seeded Lakers (29-6-0), who knocked them out of the tournament in the first round last year, at Walter Brown Arena. Junior forward Jenn Wakefield scored twice, including an empty-netter, but it was freshman forward Jill Cardella who put away the game-winner with just under 10 minutes left in the third period.
The Lakers battered freshman goalie Kerrin Sperry with 15 shots in the first period, while BU managed just four shots of their own, but Wakefield gave Sperry some support with her first goal at 11:52. After taking a pass from senior forward Jillian Kirchner in the neutral zone, Wakefield carried the puck in herself and beat Laker goalie Hillary Pattenden on her backhand.
Senior forward Meghan Agosta answered for Mercyhurst five minutes later, snapping a shot past Sperry from the slot to tie the game. The 1-1 tie stood until 8:16 of the second period, when freshman forward Marie-Philip Poulin, in her second game back from a fractured hand, carried the puck low in the zone and wristed it past Pattenden from close range.
The tables seemed to turn in BU’s favor in the middle period, as the 14-4 shot advantage Mercyhurst held in the first flipped to a 14-5 margin for the Terriers in the second. But Agosta, the nation’s leading scorer with a 2.55 points-per-game average, wasn’t done. When graduate student defenseman Catherine Ward went to the penalty box for checking at 8:02 of the third, it took Agosta just over a minute to capitalize, firing a shot from the blue line over Sperry’s glove hand to tie the game at two apiece.
Despite the enormous roles that Wakefield, a transfer from University of New Hampshire, and Poulin, a new recruit, have played in the Terriers’ success this year, it was three returning players who combined for the winning goal less than two minutes after Agosta’s equalizer. Sophomore defenseman Kathryn Miller sent a pass across the blue line to her junior partner Tara Watchorn, who unleashed a powerful shot toward the net. Cardella, in front of Pattenden, redirected the shot through the goalie’s legs to give BU its third lead, the one that would hold through the end of the game.
“It’s so nice,” Cardella said of the win. “Last year no one really thought we had a chance, and they didn’t really think we had a chance this year…it feels so nice.”
Wakefield slid the puck into an empty net with 10 seconds remaining to seal the victory, punching her ticket to the second Frozen Four of her career after reaching the semifinal round with UNH in 2008.
“I went to the Frozen Four as a freshman, so I was pretty nervous and didn’t know what to expect,” Wakefield said. “Now, being there, hopefully I can just be an example on the ice. I know we have a great group of girls in the locker room and we’re ready for our next step.”
The Terriers’ next foe is Cornell University, who entered the tournament as the second seed. Boston College and University of Wisconsin will play in the other semifinal game, both of which will be held in Erie, Pa. at Mercyhurst’s Tullio Arena on Friday. After an upset loss to Northeastern University in the Hockey East semifinals, knocking off the Lakers could be the momentum swing the Terriers have been looking for as they head into Friday’s game.
“We had a meeting before the game, a few days before, and we really wanted to do it for our seniors,” Wakefield said. “I feel like everyone laid it on the line for them, giving them their shot to go win the national championship.”
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