Women’s hockey has mixed results in weekend series against Penn State

The Boston University women’s hockey team finished the weekend by grabbing three of possible four points in its series against Pennsylvania State University.

The Terriers (3-1-1, 2-1 Hockey East) tied the Nittany Lions (1-4-1) on Friday night, but brought increased intensity on Saturday, winning the game by a five-goal margin.

“The weekend was good in the sense that it was a continued learning experience,” BU head coach Brian Durocher said. “You go on the road after losing your only road game to [the University of] Vermont, there was a challenge. We did a pretty good job the first night by getting the goal late in the game to tie it. I don’t think we had our compete level up.”

In the first period on Friday, it was Penn State who broke onto the scoreboard first, just over halfway into the first period. Defenseman Bella Sutton beat junior goaltender Erin O’Neil for her first goal of the season.

BU was able to comeback early in the second period on a goal from graduate student forward Mary Parker. Junior forward Victoria Bach skated the puck into the offensive zone and passed to Parker. The Milton native was able to beat Nittany Lion goaltender Hannah Ehresmann for her second goal of the year.

Just over two minutes later, the Terriers received a power-play opportunity after a tripping penalty on forward Meike Meilleur. BU used the opportunity to its advantage, as senior defenseman Alexis Crossley shot the puck past Ehresmann, giving the Terriers a 2-1 lead.

Before the second period ended, Penn State knotted the score at two on senior Laura Bowman’s sixth of the year.

In the third frame, the Nittany Lions regained the lead with a power-play goal from forward Amy Peterson on the heels of junior defenseman Savannah Newton’s penalty.  

At the 8:30 mark in the final period, senior forward Maddie Elia tied the game up at three apiece after skating into the right side of the offensive zone and dangling past the Penn State defensemen.

Neither team claimed the win, even after a five-minute overtime period.

Saturday’s story was much different for the Terriers, as they topped the Nittany Lions 7-2.

“Saturday we certainly did all the little things well,” Durocher said. “We had quick line changes, we protected the puck better, we competed down low better, and obviously we got some timely things going on.”

The offensive dominance began in the first period, just 53 seconds after the opening faceoff. Parker scored the first part of her hat trick on a rebound after a Crossley shot.

While Penn State was able to tie the game shortly after, Parker struck again on assists from Bach and junior forward Nina Rodgers in the fourth minute.

At the 15-minute mark in the first period, sophomore forward Sammy Davis tallied a goal of her own, giving the Terriers a 3-1 lead and causing the Nittany Lions to replace Ehresmann with goaltender Daniela Paniccia.

In the second period, Parker scored her final goal of the night, completing the three-goal effort on a shot that beat Paniccia above the glove.

“We’re lucky to have [Parker],” Durocher said. “She’s a kid who’s been a point producer all her life. She’s a wonderful teammate and somebody who I think the kids have gravitated to.”

Sophomore defenseman Connor Galway scored her first collegiate goal with a shot from the point with just four minutes remaining in the second frame. Elia, who already had two assists during the game, tallied her own power-play goal as well. Sophomore forward Mary Grace Kelley capped off the scoring with her her first tally of the year, finalizing the 7-2 score.

Durocher liked the improvement he saw from his team this weekend, and they’ll look to build off this success when they take on Northeastern University away from Walter Brown Arena this Tuesday.

“Every game we’ve got to continue to get better, and again I think we did that in second night,” Durocher said.