Just two days after besting the University of New Hampshire in a valiant comeback effort, the No. 15 Boston University women’s ice hockey team will face Yale University in its first mid-week matchup of the season.
The Terriers (5-4, 4-1 Hockey East) boast a two-game winning streak after beating the University of Vermont and UNH (1-8, 1-4 Hockey East) within the past week and a half. The wins haven’t come easy, though, with BU coming from behind in the game against the Wildcats.
“It’s always good to come back,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “It shows that you’ve got resiliency and you’re able to score goals in a tricky situation. We’re doing our best to get out of the game a little bit better and maybe get the first two goals in a game, but it hasn’t happened too often this year.”
Freshman forward Sammy Davis, who scored twice against the Wildcats, leads the team in goals with seven this year, while sophomore forwards Victoria Bach and Rebecca Leslie hold the team-leading tie in points with 10 each. Bach registered three points against UNH and Leslie notched one for herself as well.
Despite the win against UNH, the Terriers hope to avoid some of the penalty woes that they struggled with during the contest.
“The biggest thing that happened against New Hampshire the other day was getting behind because of penalties,” Durocher said. “We ended up taking four penalties and then we got a delay of game penalty at the end of the [first] period, so it turned into five penalties in one period and that’s just too much.”
On the other side, the Bulldogs (1-2) will play in their fourth game of the year after a record-setting season last year, finishing with the second-most wins in school history.
Yale lost its first two games, but bounced back in its latest clash against Quinnipiac University. Team captain and senior forward Janelle Ferrara scored twice in the last five minutes to help the Bulldogs to a 4-3 upset victory. Ferrara leads the team in goals and points with four and five, respectively.
Goaltender Hanna Mandl has played every minute in net for the Bulldogs and holds a save percentage of .843. This is Mandl’s first year as a regular goalie for the Bulldogs, as she appeared in only six games last season.
The Terriers will play Yale for the first and only time this season, similar to last year’s schedule. The two teams completed a 4-4 tie last season, thanks to two power-play goals and two shorthanded goals by BU.
Despite leading 3-2 at the start of the third period, the Bulldogs’ timely penalties allowed for a Terrier comeback, keyed by current sophomore forward Victoria Bach and current senior forward Sarah Lefort. Yale made a late push to tie the game at four apiece after pulling the goaltender for an extra attacker, sending the contest into overtime.
Current sophomore goaltender Erin O’Neil started for the Terriers in last year’s game, allowing four goals on 28 shots. Durocher will most likely start O’Neil once again in Tuesday night’s game.
“While each goaltender has done a good job, I don’t know if we’ve ever gotten one on a real roll,” Durocher said. “[O’Neil] has had three wins in the last four games and in the game against [No. 5] Clarkson [University], she played well, so maybe I’m running with that hunch at least one more game here.”
The Terriers hope to move forward and carry the momentum over from the past two games into Tuesday night.
“Any time you get a win you hope you can get some confidence and put a second one together or a third one,” Durocher said. “That’s our charge for tomorrow night. Yale’s got a pretty good team and we’ll certainly be a worthy opponent. We’ve got to make sure we’re ready, and that’s right from the drop of the puck.”
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.
