Women’s Hockey: Terriers finish regular season with loss to Friars

This past weekend, the BU Terriers (19-7-8, 15-6-6 WHEA) split a pair of games: a 3-1 victory over the UConn Huskies (14-16-4, 9-14-4 WHEA) and a 2-1 defeat by the Providence Friars (22-10-2, 16-9-2 WHEA).

First up were the Huskies on Friday at UConn, a team BU had already gone 1-0-1 in 2 prior meetings. Midway through the first period, junior forward Nara Elia put the Terriers out front on a penalty kill to make it 1-0 BU.

In the second, it was a pair of Terrier freshmen, Courtney Correia and Emma Wuthrich who each scored a goal for Terriers to close out the second leading 3-0. While that would be the end of the scoring for the Terriers, it was more than enough.

Only in the third period did the Huskies get on the board on a goal by Freshman Danika Pasqua to make it 3-1 Terriers. That would be the final and the Terriers would earn their 19th win. Terrier goalie Corrine Schroeder was nearly perfect going 34/35 in shots defended as the Terriers returned home to Walter Brown Arena to face the Friars.

This season, the Terriers had gone 2-0 in their first two meetings with the Friars and tried to sweep the season series at home. At the 7:33 mark in the first period, junior captain Natasza Tarnowski put the Terriers out front 1-0 with a penalty kill goal.

Unfortunately in the second, the tides turned in favor the Friars after as senior forward Christina Putigna scored on a penalty kill just 2:30 in to tie the game up at 1-1. Ten minutes later, the Friars were at it again, this time it was junior defender Whitney Dove on an even 5-on-5 matchup to give Providence a 2-1 lead.

There was some controversy late in the game as the Terriers had a chance to tie up the game on a call that was overturned to take the point away and keep the score at 2-1. Coach Brian Durocher said that “they couldn’t give me the answer” regarding who last made contact with the puck, a skater or the goalie, and later said that there “could have been a different answer” but that “these [refs] are professionals and we’re lucky to have them.”

The game would remain scoreless for the final 28 minutes and the Friars would win 2-1, their first victory over BU this season. Despite the 2 goals allowed, Coach Durocher said that Schroeder “answered the bell and kept giving us a chance to take care of business,” and that she “is playing with confidence.” That’d just about sum up how good Schroeder has been for BU this season, averaging 1.85 goals allowed all season.

Next up for the Terriers, the Women’s Hockey East playoffs, where they will play a best-of-3 series in the quarterfinal round against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats. Coach Durocher says the team will “have to be the aggressors and be assertive” next week in order to move further into the playoffs.