Women’s Hockey: No. 12 Providence wins 4-1, sweeps Terriers
By Gracie Davenport
Boston University Women’s Hockey (3-7-0, 2-6-0 HE) fell 4-1 to the No. 12 Providence College Friars (9-2-1, 6-1-1 HE) Saturday afternoon, getting swept in the home-and-home series.
Both teams’ European goaltenders got the start in back-to-back games. Providence’s Sandra Abstreiter pushed her starting streak to 12 straight games, while BU’s Andrea Brӓndli got the nod after making a season-high 42 saves Friday night. BU Head Coach Brian Durocher has been splitting time equally between his goalie tandem but gave the start to Brӓndli.
“We have plenty of faith and plenty of confidence in Callie Shanahan, [but] we had to, number one, recognize how well Andrea is playing,” said Durocher. “Sometimes it’s hard to flip the switch, hard to change the mental part of the game immediately. We respect those things to give [Shanahan] just a little bit more time off.”
The Friars wasted no time getting on the board just 1:28 into the first period. Senior forward Delaney Couture tapped home the rebound off an initial Providence shot from the point for her second goal of the season.
The Terriers would not record their first shot on net until over seven minutes in, but it would tie things up. In a similar fashion to Friday night’s game, junior forward Catherine Foulem opened the scoring for the Terriers. Picking up her second tally of the weekend and the season, Foulem carried the puck over the blue line and put it past Abstreiter cleanly to tie up the game 1-1.
With six minutes remaining in the first, the Friars made it a 2-1 game. Freshman forward Reichen Kirchmair scored high-slot on Brӓndli through many screens in front. After being held off the goal sheet in Friday’s game, Kirchmair scored her eighth goal in 12 games, extending her team lead in goals.
During the final four minutes of the first frame, BU was awarded a much-needed power play. On the advantage, the Terriers recorded their second shot on net of the game, the first in over 11 minutes of game time. BU followed with a series of shots to test Abstreiter. Although they were unable to convert, the Terriers were ignited by this power play throughout the rest of the game. Shots on goal through the first 20 were 14-7 in favor of Providence.
The Terriers carried the momentum they found late in the first into the middle frame. BU managed to switch the gameplay to a more back-and-forth style. The Terriers led in shots 13-11 – a big improvement from the first period.
“Particularly [in] the first part of the first period, our defensemen were making passes on their backhand, trying to escape against two players, and all they really had to do was soft-wrap it around the boards,” Durocher said. “All of a sudden one of our wings would be with the puck and heading up ice before Providence and getting their forecheck in. That was a big change. That got us to play a little quicker.”
Providence added to their lead in the middle frame, scoring the period’s lone goal with 3:49 remaining. Senior defender Lauren Deblois scored her second of the season, her initial shot from the circle going off the crossbar and ricocheted off the back of Brändli and into the net to double the lead.
Following the goal, the Terriers were given a chance to make it a one-goal game on the power play, but the Friars had a couple of dangerous breakaways shorthanded. Brändli had to come up big to close out the middle frame.
“We just had a couple of people have a little bit of jumpy hands where they just mishandled the puck and all of a sudden the passing lane was gone,” Durocher said. “Providence maybe threw a little bit of a high wrinkle at us that caught us off guard.”
The game’s back-and-forth play continued in the third, but BU was unable to score. At the 10:37 mark, the Friars made it 4-1. Brӓndli made the initial save on graduate forward Hunter Barnett, but Barnett deflected the puck out of the air and into the net. The final shots were 40-30 in favor of Providence.
The Terriers are currently on a four-game road trip and look to regroup before a pair of games against the No. 13 University of Vermont next weekend.
“Vermont’s got a real good team. They had a big weekend this weekend,” Durocher said. “We’re going to have to, again, continue to defend well. Continue to stand the defensive side of the puck and be opportunistic offensively.”
Both games will be played in Burlington, Vermont at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The first contest will take place Friday afternoon, with puck drop set for 2 p.m.