Women’s Hockey: Terriers bounce back in statement win against Northeastern in second half of home-and-home

Featured image by Joe Eachus

By Lydia Murray

Boston University Women’s Ice Hockey (2-3-0, 2-1-0 HEA) flipped the script on the No. 13/12 Northeastern University Huskies on Saturday (3-3-0, 1-1-0 HEA), shutting them out 4-0 to split the weekend series.

The win ended a 12-game losing streak to the Huskies, with the Terriers’ last win dating back to Oct. 8, 2021. Callie Shanahan dominated in performance, becoming the first BU goalie to shut out Northeastern since Dec. 7, 2010.

It was a tight turnaround for both teams, with less than 18 hours between Friday’s final buzzer and Saturday’s puck drop.

“A lot of video,” Coach Tara Watchorn said about how the coaching staff prepared for the fast turnaround. “Not as much sleep…I think what’s been really cool is all of our staff has returned and we have our areas on the ice. Instead of trying to watch a full game…I think we’re able to divide and conquer and trust each other and hone in on the areas that we needed to get better at.”

The Terriers had a strong start and were rewarded for it early. Just 4:26 in, first-year forward Lola Reid sniped her second of the season short side over the glove of first-year Husky goaltender Lisa Jönsson, who made her first career start. At that point, BU was outshooting Northeastern 3-0.

The Terriers continued to land shots on Jönsson as the period wore on, but the Huskies limited their follow-up chances with a strong collapse defense. At the other end, Shanahan faced a few scattered shots but was largely untested.

BU got a big flurry of chances in the final two minutes, but Jönsson made two great leg saves to keep her team’s deficit at one. The Terriers returned to the locker room leading 1-0 while outshooting Northeastern 11-6.

The second period began at a good pace, with BU again getting more looks. However, they couldn’t get another past Jönsson.

Husky Tory Mariano kicked off a penalty parade about six minutes in when she got called for hooking. About 40 seconds later, Northeastern attempted to clear the puck, but it hit Christina Vote, who went down with an apparent lower-body injury. She headed down the tunnel after being helped off by her teammates.

44 seconds after the Mariano penalty expired, the Terriers got another crack at it when Éloïse Caron took a seat for tripping. They got their best look of the period on the back half of it, but Jönsson made a terrific diving save to keep the puck out.

The Huskies got one of their best looks with under two minutes to go in, but Shanahan made a big save to keep her team in the lead. With 36.6 remaining, BU headed to their first penalty kill, with Maeve Kelly heading off for interference. However, Northeastern didn’t get much going, so the teams returned to their rooms with the Terriers still leading 1-0 and outshooting the Huskies 19-9.

The final frame kicked off with BU looking to secure the win.

The Terriers got a flurry of chances around four minutes in, but Jönsson continued her strong debut with more big saves amid traffic.

BU finally managed to crack Jönsson again at 7:34. Maeve Carey sprung Sydney Healey and Riley Wash on a 2v1, and Healey made a strong pass over to Walsh, who ripped it under the crossbar for her second of the season.

Looking to get on the board, Northeastern pulled Jönsson with 17:45 left, but just nine seconds later, Healey sent her first of the season into the empty cage.

Going for one final last-minute chance, the Huskies pulled Jönsson again at 18:26, and 28 seconds later, Yuhn scored her second of the season to seal the deal for the Terriers. They defeated Northeastern to split the weekend by a final of 4-0 while outshooting them 28-25.

When asked what changed between games to allow for such a strong bounce back, Watchorn credited the players for taking ownership of what team they wanted to be.

“We just reset,” Watchorn said. “[We] talked about a little bit of a different strategy. I thought we played a good game yesterday all-in-all… It was just being a little bit more responsible with the puck. But, more than that, our team, the players, took ownership over the environment they wanted and were leaders today from up and down the lineup, and I think you saw that on the ice.”

Assistant captain Maggie Hanzel echoed those comments.

“I think it’s a tough environment to be in after a 4-0 loss like that last night,” Hanzel said. “But I think that we just wanted to reset and take some pride in putting the jersey on today and see what we can bounce back with and I’m so happy with how everyone responded.”

BU will look to continue in the win column as they prepare for another two-game weekend, this time facing off against the University of Maine Black Bears. Both games will be played at Agganis Arena, with the first contest set for a 3 p.m. puck drop on Friday, Oct. 18, with live coverage available for streaming on ESPN+.