Hot off a Hockey East victory against crosstown rival Northeastern University on Sunday, the No. 6/7 Boston University women’s hockey team will look to continue this momentum Wednesday against non-conference foe No. 3/4 Quinnipiac University.
The Terriers (14-5-2, 10-3 Hockey East) have started the new year off with two wins in four games over the past two weeks. Senior captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals in the win over the Huskies (6-12-4, 5-7-1 Hockey East) and now leads the Terriers in goals with 15 this season. Poulin is also ranked fourth in goals scored in Hockey East.
Junior forward Kayla Tutino claimed two points in the Northeastern game, with one goal and one assist, and a goal against Cornell last Tuesday. Junior forward Sarah Lefort leads BU in points with 28 this season and ranks fifth in Hockey East for points.
However, BU’s forwards are not the only ones contributing on the scoresheet. Senior defenseman Shannon Doyle recorded two assists during the game on Sunday and leads the team’s defensemen in points and has posted a plus-nineteen rating in 20 games played. In addition, junior blueliner Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga and senior defenseman Shannon Stoneburgh each added an assist against the Huskies.
“Any time you get a good feeling about yourself, you hope that it can snowball and turn into a little bit of a run,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “You hope that it can be a positive thing momentum-wise. Coming back home, we know this is a big game from a big-picture scenario. There are a lot of reasons to be excited and ready to play.”
Freshman goaltender Erin O’Neil and sophomore netminder Victoria Hanson have split the load for the past four games. Hanson had a record high of 39 saves against Boston College Jan. 7, but struggled against Cornell (9-6-3), allowing six goals.
“I’m still waiting for one of them to take the job away [of starting goaltender], if that’s ever going to happen,” Durocher said. “Both of them play fantastically. My plan is for both to keep alternating in that mindset. At this point, I don’t think either goalie has staked claim that they’re the goaltender. They’re both young kids, and I want them to have a friendly competition that will maybe answer the question for me, for their team and for themselves.”
The last time the Terriers faced Quinnipiac (20-1-3) was in the 2008-09 season. BU defeated the Bobcats 5-1 with four unanswered goals throughout the three periods. Since then, however, Quinnipiac has turned its program around. They are currently ranked third in the NCAA, which is the highest ranking the team has received in the program’s history.
“We’re going to do our best to play our game,” Durocher said. “Our job is to focus on playing good defensively. Their team has a great game defensively. They’ve had all kinds of shutouts, and they’ve kept teams to very low numbers of shots.”
Freshman Taylar Cianfarano leads the Bobcats in goals scored with 14 this season. Cianfarano is an alumnus of the U.S. Under-18 National Team and was a silver medalist at the U-18 World Championship in both 2013 and 2014.
“They’re a good offensive team, and Taylar is a very talented individual,” Durocher said. “Our challenge is to watch a top player like her and take away the middle of the rink, try to stay on the defensive side of the puck and make good line changes. Those are all things that are all going to add up, and hopefully we’ll be on the winning side when the game ends.”
Ranya currently covers field hockey and women’s hockey for the Daily Free Press. As a Biology major at BU, she spends much of her time buried in her Chemistry textbook with the occasional trip to the piano practice room to rehearse her favorite piece, Debussy’s "Claire de Lune." She is an avid ice hockey fan and a proud supporter of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
