Women’s Hockey: BU Gets First Win of 2017

By: Marisa Ingemi

After finishing the first half of the season red hot, it took Boston University a bit to get going in 2017. Following a stretch of three straight ties, the Terriers finally found the win column on Sunday, a 5-2 victory against Providence to split a weekend series.

The victory included two milestones, with senior Rebecca Leslie scoring her 100th career point, and sophomore Anna Streifel scoring her first ever goal with the Terriers.

“It’s a great accomplishment, but it comes from a lot of the great players I’ve played with in the four years I’ve been here,” said Leslie. “I learned a lot my first year here and was lucky enough to play in some key situations.”

Leslie’s goal was the opener of the contest as she got it past Friars goaltender Clare Minnerath 8:49 into the first period.

“She’s a fabulous player,” Terriers head coach Brian Durocher said. “Very talented. Great skating skills, great puck possession, just seeing her back in the lineup yesterday, despite having rust, you would never have known.”

Streifel scored less than a minute later as she received the puck off a blocked shot on a 3-on-1 to bury a 2-0 lead.

“Complete euphoria,” Streifel said of her goal. “That would be the best term to describe it. It’s been a while. It was really fun to finally get a goal.”

Providence cut the lead in half near the end of the opening period, but Nina Rodgers found the back of the net 8:47 into the second period to extend the lead to 3-1.

She scored her second goal of the game with 4:07 in the game to make the lead 4-2 after the Friars had gotten one back in the second frame.

Abby Cook’s empty netter sealed the deal on the Terriers first victory of the second half.

“We gave up some opportunities, but ultimately 24 shots hit the net, we blocked our share, probably forced them to get rid of it and shoot it wide,” Durocher said.

Leslie returned to the lineup yesterday, and already is making an impact for a team that struggled to score last weekend in two ties with Vermont from Walter Brown Arena. Since her return, the team has scored five goals in back to back games, a fact that is not lost on Durocher.

“We’ll need her if we’re going to get some trophies.”

The biggest key for the Terriers now is getting points, but with games in hand on nearly everyone in Hockey East, they have just three games in the next two weeks. The next one is at Merrimack next Saturday.

“You look at the standings and Providence was two points away and now we’ve moved to four,” Durocher said. “UNH is doing a great job, and they’re moving up, there’s a big series with them, but we’ve got to try to think about just Merrimack.

“We’ve got a game or two more than most teams. Usually if you win yourself, you take care of a lot of business. When you’re standings watching and hoping other teams knock other people off, unfortunately someone’s getting points.