The Boston University women’s ice hockey team (10-10-4, 9-6-3 Hockey East) fell short in the Beanpot semifinal Tuesday afternoon against No. 6 Harvard University (16-5) at Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena, losing 4-1 to the Crimson. After hanging tough with Harvard for most of the game, the Crimson’s talent proved too much for BU to stop in the third period.
The game began with back-and-forth play between the two teams. BU found several scoring opportunities near the net, but were unable to convert.
BU senior forward Jesse DeVito went down early in the game with an apparent wrist injury, but was able to later return to the game.
“She was back on the bench ready to play. She was out for what I am guessing was something more of a stinger,” head coach Brian Durocher said postgame.
Midway through the first period of play, a roughing penalty was called on BU freshman forward Kylie Roberts. The Terriers killed it off, and were soon after rewarded with a power play of their own.
A tripping penalty was called on Harvard junior defender Maryna MacDonald, but the Crimson were able to clear the puck out of the Terriers’ offensive zone multiple times, not allowing BU a chance to set things up and killing off the power play.
A minute into the second period, Harvard got on the board first with a goal from freshman forward Taze Thompson, her sixth tally for the year.
The Terriers continued to play aggressively, generating quality chances around the net due in part to the play of sophomore defender Julia Shaunessy, junior forward Haylee Blinkhorn and junior defender Nadia Mattivi.
BU killed off back-to-back penalties, assessed to senior forward Mackenna Parker and Matitvi for hooking and body checking respectively, to keep Harvard’s lead at just one goal.
Terrier forwards, including sophomore Catherine Foulem, senior Courtney Correia and freshman Christina Vote, kept up the attack, and sophomore Lacey Martin was eventually able to even the score with under four minutes to play in the second period.
Martin scored after a BU shot rang off the left post, drawing Crimson senior goaltender Becky Dutton out of position and ultimately leading to an empty net for Martin. The goal was Martin’s third of the season, and she was assisted by Blinkhorn and junior forward Julia Nearis.
The Terriers found opportunities to score in the third period, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances. BU struggled to find their groove on the power play and came up empty-handed following a slashing penalty on senior defender Emma Buckles at 3:05 of the period.
The Crimson, however, were also unable to generate a goal on a power play of their own. After a tripping penalty was assessed to BU senior forward Emma Wuthrich at 6:06 of the period, a broken stick on a slapshot from Harvard junior forward Kristin Della Rovere allowed the Terriers to get some fresh legs in and kill off the penalty.
Halfway through the third period, Harvard junior forward Anne Bloomer scored a goal assisted by her linemate, senior forward Becca Gilmore, to put the Crimson up 2-1. From there, the Terriers began to lose their momentum and Harvard netted two more goals.
Bloomer put the Crimson up 3-1 with an unassisted goal off the right post — her 17th goal of the season and second on the night. Della Rovere sealed the game with 3:25 left to go with a goal from the right circle, which was assisted by Gilmore.
“I think sometimes penalties can be momentum things. Their big players capitalized, which I give them some credit [for],” Durocher said.
The Crimson dominated shots on goal through the entire game, finishing with 49 compared to BU’s 22. Senior goaltender Kate Stuart had a strong performance Tuesday for the Terriers, with 45 saves against a group of Harvard forwards who made some highlight reel-worthy plays on the net.
“Kate was real sharp today,” Durocher said. “It’s kind of frustrating, because we’ve gotten fantastic goaltending here in the last three or four games…if you look at the score sheet, like, ‘OK, average goaltending.’ Well, we gave up a few too many shots, but we gave up these goals all in the last six, seven minutes of the game.”
Despite his frustrations regarding the loss, Durocher found some positives to take away.
“I told them I still saw some things that I liked out there,” he said. “I think the fact that we got ourselves grounded in the second period against a good team, and we were putting ourselves in position.”
The Terriers will host the University of Connecticut at Walter Brown Arena on Friday night, and then travel to Chestnut Hill to face off against local rival Boston College Saturday afternoon.
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