With the annual Women’s Beanpot tournament in the rearview, the Boston University women’s hockey team will move on to the University of New Hampshire to end its regular season.
After falling to rival No. 4 Boston College 4-3 in overtime in the Beanpot final Tuesday night, the Terriers (11-15-6, 6-11-5 Hockey East) will play in a home-and-home series against the Wildcats (14-11-7, 9-8-5 Hockey East) this weekend.
UNH will be looking to avenge last season’s Hockey East quarterfinals, where BU forced a third game after beating the Wildcats 4-3. The Terriers went on to advance to the semifinals with a 3-2 win.
However, UNH outranks BU in Hockey East, ranking fourth to the Terriers’ seventh.
Nonetheless, both teams have seen numerous ups and downs over the course of their respective seasons.
The Wildcats have won five out of their past 10 games, including the end of a four-game losing streak from Jan. 5 to Jan. 13.
BU has also had a mixed bag of a season. Over their last 10 games, the Terriers have gone 4-4-2.
“There’s no one thing that you can put your thumb on and say we can do this better, we can do that better,” BU head coach Brian Durocher said. “Maybe part of it’s mental. We haven’t been able to get over the hurdle very often.”
This year’s Beanpot saw senior forward Victoria Bach continue to add goals to her impressive record, with two tallies in last week’s Harvard University matchup and one against BC (26-3-3, 17-2-3 Hockey East). This makes her responsible for half of all goals scored by the Terriers in the tournament.
This is in keeping with Bach’s impressive track record. Over the course of the season, Bach has tallied 35 goals, which makes her by far the highest scoring player on the team.
The goal Tuesday night also marked a significant milestone for Bach, as it was the 100th of her collegiate career. Bach beat the program record for career goals — which was set by former Terrier Sarah Lefort — earlier this season.
Outside of BU, Bach is second in Hockey East in goals per game with an average of 1.25 and is second in the nation in points per game (2.11), trailing behind BC freshman forward Daryl Watts in both categories.
Senior forward and captain Rebecca Leslie, who is the team’s second-leading scorer, also added to her tally, bringing it to 19.
Leslie additionally leads the team in assists with a total of 29, on top of 48 points.
Also scoring in the Beanpot final was junior defenseman Reagan Rust. The Southaven, Mississippi native doesn’t often get scoring opportunities being on the other end of the ice, but nonetheless received her fifth goal of the season this week.
To top it off, Rust added an assist to her tally, making her season total 12.
Also of note is freshman forward Jesse Compher, who snatched her eighth goal of the season on a power play opportunity against Harvard (12-13-2).
In net, freshman goaltender Corinne Schroeder has maintained an admirable track record of her own in her inaugural season with the Terriers.
She has amassed a total of 604 saves and boasts a save percentage of .915. Her playing time is a testament to her success in net, as she has started in 23 out of 32 games this season.
In spite of these individual achievements, BU has not had as much success translating them into wins as the team would have hoped.
UNH also has some talent of its own that it will bring into the series.
Sophomore forward Meghara McManus and senior defenseman Amy Schlagel both lead the team in goals with 11 each.
McManus was responsible for a goal in the Wildcats’ most recent contest against BC that helped them secure a 2-1 win.
“UNH’s greatest strength is their skating and puck handling,” Durocher said. “There are three, if not four, who are at a very high level on the offensive perspective. [They] break the puck out of the zone, sometimes single-handedly. They’re very active on the power play and on the beginning rush.”
In addition, UNH boasts a commendable freshman goaltender of its own in the form of Ava Boutilier, who has a save percentage of .927 and has started in 28 out of 32 games for the Wildcats.
With UNH having players such as these, the Terriers can expect quite a matchup beginning in Durham Saturday afternoon.
“Without a doubt there’s frustrations on everybody’s mind, including my own,” Durocher said. “But nobody’s stopping competing. Nobody’s giving up the fight. We’ve just gotta find a way to turn the tables and make it 2-1 for us, 3-2 for us and 4-3 for us instead of the other way around.”
