After getting off to a slow start at the beginning of the season, the Boston University women’s hockey team seems to be showing signs of a change.
Despite a loss against No. 2 Boston College last Saturday, the Terrier’s (1-5-1, 1-5-1 Hockey East) first victory against University of Connecticut the weekend before and a 2-2 tie against the University of New Hampshire on Sunday suggests momentum building up. The Terriers are currently ranked No. 6 in the Hockey East conference alongside Merrimack College.
Nonetheless, the outcome of Sunday’s matchup had to have been bittersweet. The Terriers led 2-0 for a majority of the game, but gave up two goals to the Wildcats (5-1-2, 3-1-2 Hockey East), in the third period and neither team was able to put points on the board in overtime.
BU head coach Brian Durocher said he is hopeful for the remainder of the team’s season, stating “our best days are ahead of us.”
However, Durocher said he believes that there is plenty of room for improvement, being somewhat critical of the team’s performance against UNH.
“I thought we played OK,” Durocher said. “We got a road point, but maybe in some ways it was disappointing because we were up 2-0 at the third and you want to close the door.”
The Terriers hope to bring home a win this week as they face off against the Rochester Institute of Technology in a two-game set.
The first game will take place this Friday at 7 p.m. at the Walter Brown Arena and the second game will be played on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Agganis Arena.
The Tigers (3-4-1), a member of the Atlantic Hockey Conference, will be the Terriers’ first non-conference opponent in their fledgling season.
BU’s coaches acknowledged that the non-conference game makes preparation slightly more difficult, given that they are not as familiar with RIT as they are with the likes of BC (6-0-1, Hockey East 3-0-1) and Northeastern University.
But Durocher stated that the Tigers have had consistently strong goaltending and that will be a primary focus for the series.
“We don’t see them that often so we’re still trying to string that together, but I know they’ve always worked extremely hard,” Durocher said. “Year after year they have a goalie that plays extremely well.”
The game will also mark a reunion of sorts for junior transfer defenseman Reagan Rust, who joined BU this season after transferring from RIT.
With 14 points under her belt while a Tiger last season, Rust was the third highest scoring player on the team and led the team in assists with 11.
Despite only tying UNH, the Terriers’ defense had a strong showing in Sunday’s matchup especially in regards to freshman goaltender Corinne Schroeder.
The game was Schroeder’s second collegiate start in goal and the Elm Creek, Manitoba native had a strong performance with a career-high 42 saves. Schroeder saw 20 shots fired at her in the first period and stopped all of them.
She finished off the game with 16 saves in the third period and overtime. The freshman goaltender had a similarly strong game against her first starring role in net a week prior in BU’s 6-2 win against UConn (3-3-1, 0-2-1 Hockey East) on Oct. 22, where she clocked in a total of 26 saves.
Schroeder has yet to see any losses as she is currently 1-0-1 in her young career and so far has never given up more than two goals in any game of the season. These numbers currently hold her at a .944 goal save percentage and 1.92 goals against average.
Senior forward Victoria Bach also gave a strong performance, scoring just 18 seconds into the game off a pass from senior forward and captain Rebecca Leslie against UNH. This currently puts Bach’s goal tally at four, making her the second highest goal-scoring members of the team second only to Leslie’s five.
Freshman forward Kristina Schuler sank her second goal of the season into the net on a power play, with an assist coming from junior forward Mary Grace Kelley.
In contrast, RIT faced a tough 6-0 loss to fellow AHC rival Lindenwood University last Saturday after beating the Lions (2-5-1) 4-3 the previous night.
Lindenwood led in shots 23-16, and Tiger forwards Kaelyn Johnson, Tori Haywood and Kendall Cornine led RIT in shots with three each.
RIT’s starting junior goaltender Jenna de Jonge was pulled late in the second period after giving up three goals and put in her place was freshman Jessi O’Leary who stopped all six shots fired at her in the third period.
Despite the Tigers’ poor performance against Lindenwood and a temporary departure from their otherwise strong goaltending, Durocher is adamant that his team not brush them off.
“We’ve got to take them as seriously as anyone else,” Durocher said. “You can’t put yourself behind because of showing a lack of respect for your opponent.”
