Women’s Hockey: Terriers Shutout RPI 4-0 in Home Opener

Sophomore forward Christina Vote awaits the puck during the against The Université de Moncton on Sept. 23, 2022. JOE EACHUS/ WTBU SPORTS

By Sasha Abrams

The Boston University women’s ice hockey team (1-0-0) opened its regular season with a 4-0 win against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday night. 

Terrier graduate goaltender Andrea Brändli shut out the Engineers with 19 saves in her first full game in between the pipes for BU. The Terriers also had two first-time goal scorers with freshman Clara Yuhn potting two goals and Sydney Healey adding one. 

“It was a hard-fought game. They played well, but I think if you look territorially, we had almost two-to-one in shots and those are the things you’re looking at to be positive,” said BU head coach Brian Durocher. 

RPI led BU in shots in the first five minutes of the game, but the Terriers came up from behind and never lost the lead for the rest of regulation. By the end of the game, BU led shots on goal 34-19.  

“I thought the slow start was only about the first five minutes and it looked like we just weren’t ready physically to get bumped, or maybe to get moved, or to get challenged,” Durocher said. 

The first period was quiet for both teams, with no goals being scored on either side. BU progressed as the period went on, eventually leading shots on goal 14-6. Each team saw a power play opportunity, but neither came out successful. 

The second period was very much like the first, as BU outshot RPI but the scoreboard showed zeros for both teams at the end of two periods. RPI’s senior goaltender Amanda Rampado stood tall against BU, stopping all 12 shots faced in the middle frame. 

The Terriers opened the scoring 55 seconds into the third period, as freshman Sydney Healey skated in all alone after an RPI defender lost the puck battle and fell to the ice. Healey sniped a shot into the top corner glove side from the bottom of the right circle to put the Terriers on the board 1-0. Healey’s unassisted goal was the first goal of his college career and gave BU a 1-0 lead. 

With just 6:45 left to go in the game, as RPI’s penalty expired, BU’s graduate defenseman Alex Allan found senior forward Brooke Ersoy. Ersoy got the puck to freshman Clara Yuhn, who doubled BU’s lead, getting Yuhn her first collegiate goal. 

Just 38 seconds later, Ersoy found the back of the net herself with assists from sophomore forward Liv Haag and sophomore forward Kylie Roberts. 

With 15 seconds left in the game, Yuhn lit the lamp again with assists from senior forward Jesse DeVito and sophomore forward Christina Vote. 

“You know our culture is really good, really positive just from the start of the season everyone gets along well, and we’ve been building great chemistry,” Yuhn said after the game. 

The Terriers face Union College tomorrow in the second half of their back-to-back, with puck drop scheduled for 4 p.m. at Walter Brown Arena.