Following Tuesday’s 2-1 loss at Northeastern University, Boston University women’s hockey head coach Brian Durocher said he would judge his team’s bounce-back ability after the Terriers’ game against the University of Vermont.
On Friday, Durocher had his answer.
“For [the Terriers] to bounce back and keep a team to two goals or less, that’s one of the things we shoot for all the time,” Durocher said. “I kept telling them that last Tuesday, and next Tuesday, today’s not a Tuesday, it’s a Friday so play Friday’s game.”
The No. 8 Terriers (18-6-3, 13-6-3 Hockey East) had four different players find the back of the net in their 4-2 victory over the Catamounts (9-13-16, 6-11-4 Hockey East).
BU’s victory keeps the Terriers in second place in the Hockey East standings as they hold a one point lead over Boston College and trail No. 3 Northeastern by 11 points as the Huskies run away with the conference.
Sophomore goaltender Kate Stuart got the start over senior Corinne Schroeder and was tested early by the Catamounts, making three saves in the first four minutes of the game, including a one-on-one save after a turnover in the defensive zone.
Durocher said he was proud of the young goaltender, who made 19 saves on the night.
“She’s continued to give us a chance,” Durocher said. “I’m happy for her because she worked extremely hard in the offseason. She’s teamed up with another all-star goalie in [Schroeder], it’s almost like you have to work twice as hard to keep catching my eye, but she has.”
At around the 10 minute mark of the opening period, the Catamounts unleashed a barrage of shots on Stuart, who was helped by her defense blocking a shot, before making two saves of her own to keep Vermont off the board.
The Terriers drew first blood just after Vermont’s attack. An icing call forced a faceoff in the Catamount defensive zone, which was ultimately won by junior forward Kristina Schuler.
Schuler kicked the puck behind her, allowing a quick shot that resulted in a rebound in front of the crease. Senior forward Deziray De Sousa cleaned up her teammate’s work with a quick flick of her wrist to give BU an early 1-0 lead.
De Sousa’s goal was her third in as many games and her seventh of the season.
BU’s 1-0 lead did not hold for long though, as the Catamounts found the back of the net five minutes later. Vermont junior forward Kristina Shanahan delivered her 11th goal of the season.
With just under two minutes left in the first period the Catamounts were called for interference, resulting in a prolonged Terrier possession in Vermont’s zone. After multiple blocked shots, the Terrier pressure overwhelmed the defense and redshirt senior forward and captain Sammy Davis scored her team-leading 12th goal of the season on a scramble in front of the net to put the Terriers up 2-1 with 17 seconds to go in the period.
BU quickly went back on the power play at the beginning of the second period when Vermont was called for boarding, however nothing came from the penalty.
Vermont squandered a couple of golden opportunities in the minutes following the Terrier power play. The Catamounts found themselves on the odd-man rush twice but were stopped by a BU player diving in front of the puck and a strong save from Stuart.
With 53 seconds left on the clock in the second period, Schuler was called for a faceoff violation, giving the Catamounts a penalty to start the final period, but the Terriers killed it.
Nothing came out of the Vermont power play as the Terriers were able to hold Vermont to zero shots on goal on the penalty.
A scramble in front of the Vermont net saw tempers flare and Terrier junior forward Jesse Compher was called for slashing players in the pile while Catamount sophomore forward Theresa Schafzahl was called for roughing, resulting in four-on-four.
20 seconds later, BU extended its lead to 3-1 during the four-on-four period when sophomore forward Emma Wuthrich scored her third goal of the season from the top of the faceoff circle.
Vermont quickly recovered though, as Davis was called for tripping, resulting in a four-on-three advantage for the Catamounts. Sophomore defenseman Sini Karjalainen cut the Terriers’ lead in half with 11 minutes left to play.
Dual holding penalties on BU and Vermont became the second four-on-four matchups of the third period, but this time there were no goals scored.
With 1:36 left to play in the game, the Terriers found the dagger. Compher swerved through traffic by the net and found sophomore forward Courtney Correia wide open. Correia fired her sixth goal of the season into the back of the net to seal the game for BU, 4-2.
The Terriers will stay at Walter Brown Arena as the 42nd Women’s Beanpot kicks off. BU will face arch-rival Boston College at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night.
Davis said the Beanpot’s atmosphere gets players amped up.
“I’m definitely fired up, all of the seniors are fired up,” Davis said. “It’ll be nice for the freshmen to experience it for the first time and we definitely want to bring it home again.”
