Women’s Hockey: Terriers split home-and-home with UNH
By Claire Smieszny
Boston University women’s hockey (5-3-1, 4-3-0 HEA) pulled out a dominant 5-3 win against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (6-7-1, 4-4-1 HEA) on Saturday afternoon in Durham, New Hampshire.
After falling to the Wildcats 4-2 on Friday night, BU came back with momentum in this matinee matchup to split the home-and-home series.
“Yesterday, starting pretty late, after the bad first period we had I think this was a good team win,” assistant coach Megan Myers said.
BU started the game off shorthanded, serving a 2 minute penalty for coming out on the ice too early. However, this didn’t deter the Terriers, and senior forward Catherine Foulem would notch a shorthanded goal just over a minute into play.
Intercepting a New Hampshire pass in the neutral zone, Foulem danced around her defender and got herself a 1-on-0 with the Wildcat’s freshman goaltender Sedona Blair. Foulem ripped it top shelf to put the Terriers up 1-0 early and set the tone for the game.
As the Terriers had multiple goals off these neutral zone turnovers, it shows how dangerous they are when they play their game well. “We play an attack style play, and I think that has really translated in our neutral zone play,” said Myers. “We want to attack them head on, and attack them nose to nose.”
UNH was able to generate a couple of more chances on net in the first period, but the Wildcats could not keep up with the Terriers. Senior forward Lacey Martin found a lane in front for the puck to record their second goal of the game in the 12th minute of the first period.
The second period saw New Hampshire come out with some aggression, as they drew a penalty early for a power play. It would be one of many penalties that filled the second period, and the Wildcats used their man advantage to net their first goal of the night.
Off a rebound, junior forward Shea Verrier got the puck and found senior forward Chavonne Truter sitting wide open back door. BU’s defense was distracted trying to reset from the previous shot, and UNH got the opportunity to cut the lead in half.
BU was quick to respond when put on the power play themselves. Martin slipped the puck to Andi Calderone just to freshman goaltender Sedona Blair’s right, and Calderone put the puck through her legs and it skidded into the net. Calderone’s goal made the score 3-1 five minutes into the second period.
BU headed to the advantage again in the second period, and were able to capitalize yet again. Wasting no time, junior forward Christina Vote found Calderone to get her a second goal just 20 seconds into the man advantage.
Going two for four on the power play this game, BU’s special teams are looking formidable every game. This improvement is no coincidence, as Myers said “We’ve been working a lot on foundational power play skills, whether it’s retrieving pucks, getting rebounds, all the things that lead to goal scoring.”
To start the third period, the teams went back and forth with the puck without generating much offense. This null period came to an end when off a BU misplay, New Hampshire was able to get the puck back in their offensive end.
Senior defender Brianna Legros picked up the puck for a one-timer that bounced off freshman goaltender Mari Pietersen’s pads, but UNH’s Verrier was in front to get the rebound into the net. After making it 4-2, Verrier wasn’t finished. She would come back with a second goal a couple minutes later to make it a one goal game with 11:37 left in regulation. After that UNH started to pour on the offense, ripping shot after shot on Pietersen.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Terrier’s weren’t giving up the lead. Sophomore forward Clara Yuhn came up with a big goal to put BU back up by two nearing the end of the third period.
BU couldn’t sit back quite yet, as shortly after they’d be down a man off a penalty. Combined with UNH going for the empty net, the final two minutes would be a stressful 6-on-4 with New Hampshire going on all cylinders. Despite their best efforts, BU would hang on for the 5-3 win.
Everything BU worked on this season went well for them this game. “We stuck to our game plan, we stuck to our habits, we stuck to everything we’ve been doing,” said Myers.
BU now shifts their focus to Tuesday, when they’ll face off against their rival from across the Charles in the Harvard Crimson. Puck drop will be at 7 p.m. at Harvard’s Bright-Landry Hockey Center in Allston, Massachusetts. Streaming will be available on ESPN+.