No. 6 women’s hockey falls to Northeastern in heated conference matchup

For their second meeting in two weeks, the No. 6 Boston University women’s hockey team faced Northeastern University in an aggressive matchup, ultimately resulting in a tough 6-3 loss for the Terriers Tuesday night at Walter Brown Arena.

After traveling to New Haven, Connecticut this past Saturday to face Yale University, the Terriers 6-3-1, 3-2-0 Hockey East) looked to continue their point streak and earn their second win against the Huskies (3-5-3, 2-3 Hockey East) this season. The game at Walter Brown Arena would celebrate the return of sophomore goaltender Victoria Hanson in her first game back after sustaining an upper-body injury against the University of Maine on Oct. 25.

Hanson would be put to the test almost immediately into the first period. While the Terriers came out strong in the offensive zone, it would be the Huskies who opened the scoring tally with a goal four minutes into the first on a shot from forward Hayley Scamurra, assisted by freshman Shelby Herrington.

After Northeastern received a body-checking penalty on sophomore Heather Mottau at 9:25 in the first, BU would get a short power-play opportunity before junior forward Kayla Tutino received a delay of game penalty after playing the puck with a broken stick at 10:01.

At 13:22 in the first, the Terriers tied the game 1-1 on junior forward Sarah Lefort’s rebound shot after a flurry in front of Husky goaltender Chloé Desjardins. The goal was Lefort’s team-leading seventh of the season and was assisted by junior defenseman Alexis Woloschuk and junior forward Jordan Juron.

The Huskies would combat the BU goal by generating another tally, this time on a breakaway from forward Kendall Coyne at 16:05 in the first.

The second period would not end in favor of the Terriers, who struggled with matching the momentum that the Huskies brought to the ice. With just a little less than two minutes into the period, Northeastern once again appeared on the scoreboard, on a goal by freshman McKenna Brand, who received a pass from Coyne and was able to shoot it in directly in front of Hanson.

After a Northeastern interference penalty on forward Melissa Haganey at 2:38, senior defenseman Shannon Doyle was unable to keep the puck inside of the offensive zone, leading forward Coyne to race for the puck, beat Doyle and put it past Hanson for the short-handed goal at 2:48.

“Without a doubt, the game was influenced by a great player,” said BU coach Brian Durocher of Coyne’s performance. “A couple of times she took advantage of physical errors… Kendall is an all-world Olympian and credit to her.”

Being outshot by the Huskies 10-9 in the second period, the Terriers were unable to capitalize or maintain control of the puck in the offensive zone for a lengthy period of time. Northeastern would lead the game 4-1 going into the third period.

The Huskies once again opened the period with an early goal. It would be Brand’s second of the game assisted by defenseman Jordan Krause. However, the Terriers would begin to battle back, and with 12:32 remaining in the third, Doyle would redeem herself with an assist after junior forward Kayla Tutino deflected her shot from the blue line for the score.

After a series of penalties, the Huskies would receive two 4-on-3 power play opportunities, but the BU defense and Hanson were successfully able to stop all attempts at another tally.

Finally, after Northeastern received a penalty for having too many players on the ice at 10:23 in the third, BU pulled Hanson for the extra player – leading to freshman forward Victoria Bach firing the puck directly past Desjardins on a pass from Tutino, making the score 5-3.

With 1:25 remaining in the period and Hanson once again pulled, BU was unable to score with the extra attacker, and instead, forward Coyne completed her hat trick with the empty-net goal.

“In some ways, we were there, but in other ways, [Coyne] and her teammates really separated themselves and clearly she did, because I think she was involved in at least four goals, and if not even five, and that’s tough to measure,” Durocher said. “There’s certainly parts in the game that we [played aggressively], but certainly parts where we didn’t, and you pay the price for that.”