Women’s Hockey: Bobcats Claw Terriers for 6-1 Win

By: Max Wolpoff

Last season, when the Boston University Terriers faced the Quinnipiac Bobcats, both sides came in ranked by USCHO.com (7th for BU, 3rd for Quinnipiac). BU lost their next game to Vermont, 0-2, and ended the week in the same spot; Quinnipiac also lost their follow-up game and dropped to 5th. This year’s tale begins on a different note.

In a rare 11 a.m. puck drop from TD Banknorth Sports Center, the No. 4/4 Bobcats hit Erin O’Neil for six goals while BU could only muster one in return. The Terriers now fall to 14-9-2 (11-4-2 Hockey East) while the Bobcats improve to 20-1-4 (10-1-3 ECAC) on the year, moving their unbeaten streak to 18 games.

After over nine minutes of possession control from the Terriers, BU’s first power play of three ended with no returns. Quinnipiac put together a few successive offensive shifts of their own, resulting in Meghan Turner’s goal at 13:01 of the first period. Immediately after Nicole Connery made the advantage two, head coach Brian Durocher used his team timeout.

The stoppage looked to even the game as neither team got quality chances in the next four minutes of play. Then BU ran into penalty trouble. 90 seconds after Dakota Woodworth and Quinnipiac’s Raquel Pennoyer went to the box for matching minors, Kayla Tutino joined them, followed by Rebecca Russo. The crowded Terrier box created a 4-on-3 power play for the Bobcats, allowing Kristen Tamberg to capitalize before the intermission.

Taylor Cianfarano’s two goals bookended the lone BU tally from Jordan Juron between the faceoff circles. Cianfarano, with 22 goals on the year, now holds an 11-goal lead on her next-closest teammate, Melissa Samoskevich.

Samoskevich’s 11th goal was also the only one tallied in the third period, finishing Bobcat victory.

O’Neil suffered her fourth loss in a 28 save effort. Quinnipiac’s Sydney Rossman made 14 saves for her 20th team win.

BU will need to brush this loss off quickly since they return to action on Saturday at Agganis Arena against the Providence Friars at 3 p.m. Last time these teams met, Sarah Lefort and Victoria Bach scored twice en route to a 6-0 shutout in Rhode Island before the semester break.