Women’s Hockey: Bach Beats Harvard in Overtime

By: Max Wolpoff

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — On her line’s second shift of the extra frame, Victoria Bach backed away from a scrum for the puck at the Boston University blue line. Nina Rodgers flipped the puck out of the zone to her waiting stick, and Bach turned up ice.

With Abbey Frazer back to defend her and Mary Parker on the two-on-one, Bach opted to shoot on Brianna Laing. From the left faceoff dot, the puck sailed to the top right corner. The junior out of Milton, Ontario dropped to a knee and scooped the ice in celebration before being hounded by her teammates to celebrate the 4-3 win over the Harvard Crimson.

BU moves to 8-5-1 (6-5-0 Hockey East) with their third consecutive win while Harvard falls to 1-6-0 (1-4-0 ECAC) with their sixth straight loss. This game marked the first non-Beanpot meeting between the cross-river schools since 2011.

Victoria Hanson made her third start in a row, stopping 21 of 24 shots for her 29th career win. Laing made 36 saves on 40 shots for the Crimson.

Parker made the most of her homecoming to the Bright-Landry Center, scoring off a faceoff win from Bach with a low shot on Laing. With the goal, Parker has now scored against every ECAC team in her career.

She is now on a seven-game point streak. Parker has only not tallied a point in two BU games: at Vermont and versus Northeastern. Nina Rodgers and Bach tallied assists, putting Rodgers at her career-high in points with nine.

The Crimson would get one back in the second period with Ali Pepper’s first career goal. Pepper missed on her first attempt, but Chelsea Ziadie sent it right back for her to try again. With the one-timer, the puck pierced the net to tie the game at one. Hanson did not see it through the screen in front of her.

Parker finished a two-on-one pass from Bach for her second of the night to put the Terriers back up by one. With a secondary assist, Savannah Newton moved to a tie for second in defensive assists with five. She would finish the game with two more to take the lead.

With the third period, Rebecca Leslie put up her fourth goal in three games to take a two-goal lead. Deziray De Sousa took the pass from Newton at the Terrier blue line and found Leslie at the opposite blue line. She then sent the puck off the boards to get around a defender for the offensive chance. Her shot glanced off Laing’s glove and trickled beyond the goal line.

Sydney Daniels slapped home her team-leading fifth goal of the season. Hanson, again, could not see the shot come her way with screeners and the knuckling puck in mid-air.

Haley Mullins took a hooking penalty with three minutes left in the game, but BU could not emerge with the game-sealing goal. Instead, as Mullins came out of the box, Audrey Warner sent her in for a half-ice breakaway. From the low slot, Mullins sent the puck high glove to tie the contest at three.

The Crimson managed no shots on goal in the overtime, BU had three. Leslie’s breakaway was denied, but Bach’s bid from the faceoff circle found its destination for the game-winner. That marked her 10th shot of the game.

The Terriers will break for Thanksgiving, then host the Princeton Tigers for two games at Walter Brown Arena on Friday and Saturday. In six games against the Tigers, BU is 4-2-0, with their last meeting coming in 2010, an 8-2 then a 2-1 win in a weekend series from Boston.