Women’s Hockey: Terriers fall to No. 6/6 BC
By: Patrick Donnelly
BOSTON – The Boston University Terriers (7-4-1, 3-4-1 HEAW) dropped their first meeting of the season with B-Line rival, the No. 6/6 Boston College Eagles (10-1-1, 9-1-1 HEAW), on Friday night by a 4-2 final at Walter Brown Arena.
“I think the effort was solid. I don’t worry about our effort too often,” BU head coach Brian Durocher said following the loss. “[There were some things] that were just physical errors, not mental.” Junior netminder Corinne Schroeder got the call in net for the Terriers while Maddie McArthur got the start for the Eagles.
BC jumped out to a hot start in the first period, controlling play from the drop of the puck and hemming the Terriers into their own zone with ease. Schroeder was up to the task, though, with several quick saves early.
Although BU had been getting outplayed, the team was still able to land some dangerous chances on McArthur. Junior forward Kristina Schuler capitalized about five minutes into the contest, redirecting a feed from Deziray De Sousa right in front of McArthur’s crease to put the Terriers up 1-0. Nara Elia earned the secondary assist.
Late in the period, junior forward Jesse Compher went to the box on a five-minute major for boarding, sending a lethal BC attack to the woman-advantage. The Terriers’ penalty-kill was strong for most of the five-minute major; however, a breakdown in coverage led to freshman sensation Hannah Bilka all alone as she fired one passed Schroeder, tying things up at one. Sophomore Savannah Norcross and freshman Alexie Guay picked up the helpers.
The tie would hold as the two sides went to their respective dressing rooms for the first intermission, but Terriers came out flying to start the middle frame. BU’s pressure finally paid off as Schuler picked up her second of the game and fifth of the season (her first multi-goal effort) on the power play in what was an awkward situation with Terriers thinking they had scored before play continued. An officials’ review would return a positive result for Durocher’s squad. De Sousa recorded her second assist of the game with Julia Nearis earning her second assist of the season.
“They’re getting back to their identity, which is to be as strong as anybody as a unit,” Durocher noted of the second line’s – De Sousa, Schuler, and Elia’s – play of late. “They’re going to get goals because they’re going to wear you down with their physical play, make the good, simple, hard pass, put pucks on net, and get rebound goals.”
“Most of all, they like playing each other, which I think makes things easier to come to the rink and play games.”
BU took the one-goal lead into the second intermission after failing to further capitalize on their impressive play in the second. BC stuck again on the power play early in the third to tie the game at two goals apiece as Alexie Guay fired one from the point that found its way through the traffic in front and passed Schroeder.
Shortly after, with frustration seeping over for BU, Alex Allan took a cross-checking minor, sending BC back to the power play. The Terriers were able to survive the penalty kill, but Delaney Belinskas beat Schroeder right after Allan’s minor had elapsed. The goal came as BC’s second tally in just 2:37 of play.
“From [the tying goal] on, we’ve got to have a little more composure, and get out of here with a sneaky win or a tie,” Durocher said. “We take a less-than-appropriate penalty that gave them another crack, which we killed off, but they get a 2-on-1 and make a good play to score.”
Durocher and the Terriers went for broke in the final minutes of the third, pulling Schroeder for the extra-attacker, but BC was able to withstand the late push from BU.
The Eagles sealed the game late as Cayla Barnes shoveled the puck towards the empty net to give us the final score. Schroeder stood tall for the Terriers, despite the three goals-against, with 26 saves. McArthur came up with 21 saves in her own right for BC.
The Terriers will look to bounce back on Tuesday as they will face No. 9/10 Harvard (5-0, 5-0 ECAC) at Walter Brown Arena. Puck drop for the Beanpot-rematch is schedule for 7:00 pm in what will be the final game of BU’s three-game homestand.