Women’s Hockey: Terriers Shutout 6-0 by Northeastern

By Miranda Lemus

Boston University Women’s Hockey (7-14-0, 6-11-0 HE) continues a winless start to 2023 after the No. 7 Northeastern University Huskies (19-2-1, 15-2-1 HE) beat the Terriers 6-0 at Matthews Arena, extending the Huskies’ winning streak to seven games. 

“It was Northeastern’s day today,” BU Head Coach Brian Durocher said. 

Similarly to the Terriers’ last tilt, the Huskies were able to open up the scoring less than five minutes into the game as graduate forwards Maureen Murphy and Alina Mueller connected on a textbook give-and-go sequence.

While the Huskies could not get a shot past graduate goaltender Andrea Brandli on their first power play of the game, Northeastern was able to capitalize on their second. A shot from Murphy caused a scramble in front of the net, putting Brandli out of position, and leaving graduate forward Chloe Aurard to collect the rebound.

Starting to play with more urgency in the last stretch of the first frame, freshman forward Clara Yuhn made a lane-opening move on Northeastern freshman defender Jules Constantinople only to hit iron, missing a key chance to put BU on the board. The Terriers stay down 2-0 going into the second period.   

Following 10 minutes of back-and-forth play and another unsuccessful BU power play, a shot by sophomore forward Skylar Irving allowed Mueller to take advantage of a rebound, extending Northeastern’s lead to 3-0.

30 seconds later, Northeastern continued to exploit Brandli’s lack of rebound control by scoring yet another goal with a follow-up shot. This time it was sophomore forward Taze Thompson, who picked up the loose puck to put the Huskies up 4-0 with seven minutes left in the second frame. 

Shortly after Thompson’s goal, Mueller passed the puck to Murphy, who shot the puck and cashed in on her own rebound to grow the Huskies’ lead from four to five. With Murphy’s goal, the pair have now connected on 15 goals this season. 

In an effort to stop the Huskies from adding to their scoring total, the Terriers started the third period by replacing Brandli with sophomore goaltender Callie Shanahan. The last game Shanahan played was Dec. 9 in BU’s 3-2 OT win over Holy Cross. 

“I think it was good to give Callie a period,” Durocher said. “Andrea has certainly been fantastic for us this year and we gave her both games this weekend, but sometimes you leave a kid out to dry with rebound goals. … It was a good time to give Callie 20 minutes.”

Only four minutes into the third frame, graduate forward Mia Brown gave the Huskies their sixth and final goal of the game. After a collision between Mattivi and Aurard, Brown was able to pick up the puck with space to spare and place the puck past Shanahan’s blocker. Aurard earned her third assist and fourth point of the game with Brown’s goal. 

As regulation time came to an end, Northeastern senior goaltender Gwyneth Philips earned her sixth shutout of the season after stopping all 18 of the Terriers’ shots. This win brings Philips’s winning total to 19, further propelling her stance as Hockey East’s leading goaltender. 

In search of their first win of 2023, BU will travel over to Worcester to face their “Turnpike Rival” Holy Cross on Friday for their next Hockey East matchup.