Women’s Hockey: No. 13 Terriers give up T-Day eve touchdown in thrashing by RV Princeton

Featured image by Joe Eachus

By Joe Eachus

BOSTON – Donning throwback-inspired jerseys not-too-unlike the tarps that thousands across the country will wear on the gridiron tomorrow, RV Princeton (6-5-0, 3-5-1 ECAC) put up a touchdown and then some on the No. 13 Terriers (10-5-1, 8-2-1 HEA), the largest defeat of the Watchorn era.

“Great test for us. One of those games where I think there’s a lot of narratives and truths from every angle,” coach Tara Watchorn said. “When we played well and had some good possessions, it looked great. And when we gave them those little moments, [Princeton’s] a very skilled team and they made us pay.”

The Terriers fired a season-high 45 shots on goal, but the story of the game was Princeton’s Jennifer Olnowich. Sporting a 3.21 GAA and .891 SV%, both ranking near the bottom in NCAA hockey, the senior netminder allowed just one goal and picked up a career-high 44 saves against a BU offense that sat at ninth in the nation.

“No doubt [Olnowich played well],” Watchorn said. “There were opportunities we can upgrade, but I think that she had a great game. Those are the fun conversations to have, is ‘how do we look at those chances and find ways to bury them next time?’”

A high-flying first period featured a combined 29 shots between the two squads, but only Princeton was able to light the lamp.

Following chaos in front of the BU net, Katherine Khramtsov cleaned up the loose puck to open the scoring just before the halfway point of the first.

Maggie Johnson doubled the Tiger lead just over two minutes later, as Shanahan lost track of the puck and left a wide-open cage for Johnson to slam it home from the top of the left circle.


Neely Nicholson had a golden opportunity to get one back for the Terriers, skating in on a breakaway that was turned aside by Jennifer Olnowich.

Christina Vote would streak in between the Princeton defense minutes later, but solid backcheck efforts from the Tigers eliminated any high-danger chance.

A BU penalty kill just before the end of the frame halted any momentum the Terriers held heading into the first intermission.

Moving into the second, things went from bad…


To worse…

To the worst-case scenario.

In just ten minutes of game time, the Terriers went from a manageable two-goal deficit, to a seemingly-insurmountable five-goal hole, including two goals against BU’s second-ranked penalty kill.

“It’s great that we were tested,” Watchorn said. “There are a couple of controllable things that led to [their success], that are very much within our control.”

Penalty struggles, difficulty breaking out, turnovers galore, and even when everything else went right, the Terriers could not solve Olnowich.

Finally, the Terriers got on the board, as Olnowich struggled to cover up the puck and Kaileigh Quigg chipped it across the goal line.

But as was the case for nearly the entire game, a poorly-timed penalty derailed any pressure BU carried after the goal.

Sarah Paul fired one home off the draw on the power-play, and Lucia DiGirolamo kicked the extra point to put the game to bed with 15 minutes still on the clock.

Paul’s second, a bar-down rip, tacked on the two-point conversion, and BU ends their Agganis stay with a devastating loss.

Next up, another extended break before heading up to the Alfond to face the University of Maine Black Bears on Dec. 6 at 6 p.m.

“Excited to have some downtime, and have time to decode this game, but also not give it too much energy that it doesn’t need,” Watchorn added. “To have a mini reset, [we’ll] have a fresh set of eyes, some fresh thoughts, and really try to make the most of our last week.”

 

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