Women’s Hockey: Terriers outplay Syracuse, but tie 4-4

By Justin Davids

Seeking their first win of the season, Boston University Women’s Hockey (0-2-1, 0-2-0 HE) tied in a non-conference matchup against the Syracuse University Orange (3-4-1, 0-0-0 CHA) at Walter Brown Arena. 

“We put some pucks in the back of the net tonight so we’ll take that. I think there’s a lot to build on offensively,” said coach Tara Watchorn. 

48 seconds into the contest, Syracuse graduate forward Darci Johal scored her first goal of the season, catching BU freshman goaltender Mari Pietersen off-guard right in front of the net. 

The Orange would proceed to score on their second shot of the game on Syracuse defenseman Rachel Teslak’s wicked slapshot from the point. A nightmare start for freshman goalie Mari Pietersen only got worse.

It wouldn’t take long for the Terriers to start showing signs of life. Dominating in the offensive zone, BU junior defenseman Maggie Hanzel finally cashed in on a shot from the top of the left circle, beating Syracuse graduate goaltender Allie Kelley short-side. 

While the Terriers were unable to score on the man-advantage midway through the first, the team was generating a high number of scoring opportunities. 

Continuing the strong play, the Terriers would gain their second powerplay opportunity late in the first after the Orange took a body-checking penalty deep in their defensive zone. 

Even though the Terriers would finish the first period down by one goal, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before they would start to take control of this game. 

A few minutes after the remainder of the Terriers’ man-advantage in the second, senior captain Nadia Mattivi capitalized on a beautiful feed from senior forward Catherine Foulem, tying the contest at two apiece .

Their momentum would cool off 10 minutes into the second frame with sophomore forward Lilli Welcke and junior forward Christina Vote each taking penalties, resulting in a 4-on-3 opportunity for the Orange. 

Holding strong on the penalty kill, the Terriers got back to even strength without allowing the Orange to take the lead. 

It would be sophomore defenseman Brooke Disher’s top-shelf wrister that gave the Terriers their first lead of the game with 2:19 remaining in the second. 

The period would end with the Terriers leading in shots 23-13. While BU was dominant through the first two frames, However, Boston will need more of a cushion to secure the win in this one sided match-up. 

BU would gain yet another power-play 1:09 into the final period. Disher would end the man-advantage after taking a slashing minor. 

Syracuse senior forward Tatum White would tie the game up at three on a shot from the point that would deflect off of a couple of sticks.

23 seconds after White’s tally, BU senior forward Lacey Martin danced around a Syracuse defender to once again regain the lead for the Terriers. 

The scoring would continue with Teslak’s second goal of the game, beating Pietersen five-hole. 

Soon after Syracuse’s equalizing mark, BU would gain another power-play opportunity Once again, the Terriers were unable to take the lead, going 0-6 on the man-advantage.  

“There were some good looks, but we just need more bodies in front of the net, and then [get] back to those foundations about outnumbering those loose pucks,” said coach Watchorn. 

Both teams were getting strong opportunities to take the lead in the third. Sophomore forward Sydney Healey was granted a penalty shot opportunity with 5:10 to go in the game and the Orange got their fair share of high quality scoring chances as well.

Nevertheless, the score would remain even at 4 and the third period would finish that way. An overtime period would be required to finish the game. 

In a battle filled with ups and downs, a tense overtime stanza wouldn’t be able to seal the deal in a very chaotic contest. Because this was a non-conference match-up, the game will count as a tie in the standings.  Regardless, both squads elected three shooters to finish the game with a shootout. 

To start, Pietersen would deny Johal on Syracuse’s first attempt of the shootout. BU sent out sophomore defenseman Maeve Kelly to shoot first for the Terriers. Her attempt would be rejected by Kelley.

Syracuse’s Tatum would score on Pietersen to give the Orange the lead in the second round of the shootout. Freshman forward Alex Law would sneak one past Kelley to tie the shootout 1-1. 

The third round started with Teslak squeaking one by Pietersen. Teslak’s goal would ultimately be the game-winner as BU’s Healey was unable to keep the shootout going. 

The Terriers are back in action at Walter Brown Arena on October 20th at 3PM for another matchup against Syracuse. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.