Women’s Hockey: BU Looks to Build Upon its Recent Success Against UMaine
By Stevie Potter
Coming off its first official win of the season against the Syracuse Orange, the Boston University Women’s Ice Hockey team (1-2-1, 0-2-0 HE) will look for its first in conference win of the season when it faces off with the University of Maine Black Bears (3-4-0, 1-2-0 HE) this weekend in Orono, Maine.
Last season, the Black Bears certainly posed a threat to the Terriers, winning two of their three matchups. The third and final time these two programs met ended in a 3-3 tie on Jan. 20, 2023. However, historically, BU has had the edge over UMaine with an all-time record of 32-21-4.
Originally, these two Hockey East teams were scheduled to play a two game series, but with the postponement of Friday night’s game, they will only play once on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m.
This season, the Terriers have two not-so-secret weapons, sophomore sisters Luisa and Lilli Welke. The pair of forwards transferred to BU after playing their freshman season at UMaine. By the end of the 2022-23 season, they finished second and fourth respectively in total points for the Black Bears. Luisa Welke scored her first goal as a Terrier against Syracuse this past weekend, and she’ll certainly be looking to continue that goal streak against her former team. Lilli Welke’s first point of the season came from an assist on her sister’s first goal, so theres no doubt that the chemistry and experience these two posses will make them a force to be reckoned with come puck drop on Saturday.
On the Black Bears bench, fifth year forward Ida Kuoppala leads their squad in points with 11 points in seven games played. Kuoppala was named Hockey East player of the week this past week, making it her second time earning this title so far this season. That being said, in the three contests between these two teams during the 2022-23 season, Kuoppala did not register a point against the Terriers.
Puck drop for the matchup will occur at 5 p.m. at Alfond Arena, and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.