Women’s Hockey: No. 8 BU upsets No. 3 Northeastern; will play Harvard in Beanpot Finals

By: Patrick Donnelly

What a night it was at Bright-Landry Hockey Center at Harvard University. The 41st Women’s Beanpot, which might be boasting the most talent the tournament has ever seen showcased two massive upsets in the semifinal action.

In the first, the eighth-ranked Terriers (15-6-7, 12-5-5 WHEA) upset No. 3 Northeastern (20-3-4, 18-2-3 WHEA), winning 4-3 in a shootout after Reagan Rust sniped one home past Aerin Frankel.

Both goalies were tremendous in the game, especially BU’s Corinne Schroeder, who made a total of 31 saves–eight in the third period, six in overtime. Frankel ended the night with 25 saves, 14 of which came in the first period.

Sammy Davis had a three-point night for the Terriers (1G, 2A) as Jesse Compher added a goal and an assist. For the Huskies, Alina Mueller had a goal and an assist to go along with a goal in the shootout.

Ultimately, Reagan Rust would be the hero for the Terriers after her top-right snipe in the shootout would be the winner, sending BU to the championship game.

In what was a fantastic game, the play was wide open down the stretch, allowing chances for both teams, so be sure to find out the complete story in Alexandra Evans’ full game recap for WTBU Sports here.

After the Terriers toppled the tournament’s equivalent of Goliath, Northeastern, Harvard (8-11-3, 6-8-2 ECAC), this year’s hosts, got set to take on No. 7 Boston College (19-10, 16-7 WHEA) in the second game of the night to decide who would face BU in next Tuesday’s championship round.

The game went almost scoreless through the entire first period before Mackenna Newkirk scored her tenth of the year to put the Eagles up 1-0 with just 42 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Newkirk’s goal would end up being the only tally of the night for the Eagles.

Just over eight minutes into the second, Brook Jovanovich tied the game at 1-1 with her second on the year, busting open the scoring for Harvard, who would not look back from there.

Just over five minutes later, Dominique Petrie tallied her fifth of the season to make it 2-1 and give Harvard the lead, something they would not relinquish the rest of the night.

A mere nine seconds into the third period, Lexie Lang potted her seventh of the season to put the Crimson up 3-1.

With just under five minutes remaining in the third, Jovanovich scored her third of the season and second of the game to put the score at 4-1 in favor of Harvard, closing the door on any sort of comeback bid from BC.

Freshman goaltender Lindsay Reed was a superstar in net for the Crimson, coming up with 52 saves on 53 shots en route to her third straight win. Reed remains unbeaten in her last four starts.

Dominique and Jovanovich each had three-point games for the Crimson with a goal and two assists each, while Becca Gilmore had two assists.

After upsetting BC in stunning fashion, Harvard moves on to face BU in the championship game of the Beanpot next week. While the Terriers only have one game in between now and Tuesday (Saturday at home against Holy Cross), the Crimson’s schedule does them no favors as they travel to Union on Friday night before visiting Rensselaer on Saturday afternoon.

The semifinal round’s action did not disappoint at all; expect next week’s to be no different as both BU and Harvard are rolling–BU remains unbeaten through nine while Harvard hasn’t lost in four.

It all kicks off at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center with the consolation game between Northeastern and BC at 5:00 PM before the main event of Harvard and BU at 8:00 PM to decide who will take home the 41st Women’s Beanpot.