Women’s Hockey: Curtain closed on the Terriers season as they fall 3-1 against Clarkson University in the NCAA Regional Semifinals

Featured image courtesy of Matt Woolverton/BU Athletics

By Lydia Murray

The Boston University Women’s Ice Hockey team (23-12-2, 18-7-2 HE) saw their Cinderella season come to a close on Thursday, as they fell to the Clarkson University Golden Knights (25-12-2, 13-8-1 ECAC) 3-1 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament in Madison, Wisconsin. A tough first period saw them fall into a hole they could not climb out of despite another strong comeback attempt.

“We talked about how the biggest opposition is the unknown to us,” BU Head Coach Tara Watchorn said postgame. “It’s kinda been that all year and continuously proving to ourselves that we’re a good hockey team and we can play with and against the best. But once again, they turned it around. I think anyone watches that first period team and goes ‘oh boy’ and they debriefed and they reset and they came out and made it a hockey game, and I’m proud of them.”

After a fairly even first five minutes in which the Terriers and Golden Knights each fired two shots on goal, Clarkson took over when Anne Cherkowski rifled a shot past goaltender Callie Shanahan to open the scoring at 14:51. It was the graduate assistant captain’s 43rd point of the season and 60th career NCAA goal.

Just 15 seconds later, BU defender Julia Shaunessey headed to the box for body-checking. Special teams were a big story heading into this game, as the Golden Knights entered the game with the nation’s second-ranked power-play (33.3%), while the Terriers boasted the second-ranked penalty-kill (89.7%). 

Unfortunately for BU, it was Clarkson’s power play that won the first battle with a tic-tac-goal at 14:20. Cherkowski fed Sena Catterall out front, who sent a beautiful pass over to Rhea Hicks, who had an easy tap-in to the open net as she crashed the far post.

It was all Golden Knights for the rest of the period. The Terriers mustered just one more shot on goal, although they did come up with an impressive penalty kill after Alex Law took a tripping penalty late. Ultimately, BU returned to the locker room trailing 2-0 while getting outshot 13-3.  

The intermission reset the Terriers, and they came out stronger in the second. They outshot Clarkson 8-4, partially thanks to getting the period’s only power play opportunity, but they weren’t able to crack netminder Holly Gruber. So, they headed into the final frame, still trailing 2-0, with the Golden Knights holding a 17-11 shot advantage.

While the second period was more like the Terrier team we have been seeing lately, the first half of the third was solely the Callie Shanahan show. She was solid all game, but BU forced her to make numerous outstanding saves in the third, particularly during Clarkson’s two power play opportunities, in which they peppered Shanahan with six shots. 

“She’s been keeping us in so many games this season, and we’re so thankful to have her between the pipes for us,” graduate student Lindsay Bochna said postgame. “She’s a brick wall in the net for us… she’s been playing unreal and so grateful for her and all the effort she’s put in every single game.”

The Terriers soon got a power play of their own, which reawakened them even though they did not score. It wasn’t due to a lack of trying, though, as they landed one shot on goal while seeing five others blocked by Golden Knight defenders.

BU pulled Shanahan for the extra attacker at 15:39, and they swarmed the Clarkson end, looking to break the goose egg. Finally, Bochna stepped up in yet another big moment and punched one past Gruber to bring the Terriers within one at 15:59.

The Terriers stayed hungry for the rest of the game, but Clarkson locked it down on defense before Catterall iced the game with an empty netter at 19:25. The final shots were 30-18 Golden Knights.

While a tough ending for BU, it was a season to remember. Preseason projections had them finishing sixth in Hockey East, and instead, they went on a run that saw them finish second in the conference, claim their first Hockey East championship since 2015 and make their first NCAA appearance since then. Their 24 wins are part of a three-way tie for the fourth most in program history, with the only better seasons coming during the Marie-Philip Poulin years from 2010-2015. Heading into this season, just two players (Maeve Carey and Lindsay Bochna, both transfer students) had won even a conference playoff game, so the experiences gained this year will prove invaluable to the team moving forward. 

After the game, Watchorn reflected on where her team started preseason and where they ended up.

“I mean, never bad to come in as the underdog, right?” Watchorn said. “I knew we had the pieces, I was very confident about the additions we were bringing in, and I was very confident with the returners that we had. I had a good gut feeling that it was going to be better. I know we reference the first practice of the year all the time, but it was just different. I think it was then just continuing to try to give it back to them and I think just the biggest thing that I’m surprised with is their level of professionalism and their ability to play at the level they did as a group. You just don’t see it.”

With a strong group of players set to return next season ready to build on this experience, the future is bright for Watchorn’s Terriers.