{"id":36513,"date":"2023-02-08T10:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=36513"},"modified":"2023-02-08T10:58:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T15:58:00","slug":"womens-hockey-bu-falls-to-no-5-nu-in-beanpot-semifinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2023\/02\/08\/womens-hockey-bu-falls-to-no-5-nu-in-beanpot-semifinal\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Hockey: BU Falls to No. 5 NU in Beanpot Semifinal"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gracie Davenport<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Boston University Women\u2019s Hockey (10-16-3, 9-13-3 HE) fell 4-1 to the No. 5 Northeastern University Huskies (26-2-1, 22-2-1 HE) in their semifinal game of the 44th Women\u2019s Beanpot. The teams hashed it out Tuesday evening at Boston College\u2019s Conte Forum, marking the Terriers’ first loss in seven games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After a sluggish first half to their season, BU had strung together a gritty six-game unbeaten streak. Entering tonight, their last regulation loss was the last time they played NU on Jan. 8. Meanwhile, the Huskies brought in a 13-game winning streak into the semifinal. In part by graduate goaltender Andrea Br\u00e4ndli\u2019s 41-save performance, BU\u2019s game saw improvements, but it was not enough to advance to the championship game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a super line on that team that\u2019s been tough to deal with over the years, and they were certainly there tonight,\u201d BU Head Coach Brian Durocher said. \u201cI was proud of our kids. I thought they put in a real good effort and gave ourselves a chance.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Huskies got on the board 7:32 into the first period with an end-to-end play by their top line. Most of NU\u2019s offense has come from this all-graduate forward trio, and they scored all three of their team\u2019s even-strength goals tonight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Northeastern forward Maureen Murphy started the rush that sent Chlo\u00e9 Aurard flying down the left side before Aurard found Murphy in the slot to backhand it past Br\u00e4ndli. This was Murphy\u2019s 16th of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlina [Mueller] made a really nice play to the middle, and [Aurard]\u2019s probably the fastest player in college hockey,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cWe practiced a lot of 2-on-1’s yesterday, ironically, so I saw the goalie slide and put it on my backhand.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU tied the game at 1-1 just 2:01 into the middle frame with a tally from freshman defender Brooke Disher. Falling to the ice, Disher shot the puck from a slot full of bodies for her fifth of the season. The freshman has picked up her offense as of late and extends her point streak to six games (3g, 5a).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s played in a lot of roles. She\u2019s had responsibilities, and like anybody, she\u2019s had her ups and downs,\u201d Durocher said on Disher\u2019s progression this season. \u201cShe competes so darn hard that I hope if nothing else rubs off that her compete every single day rubs off on our team.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Less than two minutes later, NU\u2019s top line struck again to take back the lead. Mueller pivoted along the near wall and found Aurard cross-ice at the right circle. From there, Aurard backhanded the puck to Murphy in front of the net, who tapped it past Br\u00e4ndli for her second of the night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Huskies dominated in second-period shots 19-8.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NU scored the nail in the coffin five minutes into the final frame, and it was their top line again \u2014 this time from their captain. Mueller, the all-time leading scorer in women\u2019s Hockey East history, widened the gap to 3-1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Only 14 miles separate Mueller\u2019s and Br\u00e4ndli\u2019s hometowns, and the two Swiss graduate players put on a show.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s filled with a lot of pride to see two Swiss players playing in this league at the top level,\u201d Mueller said. \u201cI love her. She\u2019s a great goalie. \u2026 She definitely stole a couple from me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers pulled Br\u00e4ndli with 2:12 remaining, and the Huskies capitalized on the empty net in the final second to push the score to 4-1. The final shots on goal were 45-27 in favor of NU.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was not the result the Terriers wanted, but it was an improvement for Br\u00e4ndli, who was pulled after allowing five goals in her last game against the Huskies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an incredible experience. I\u2019m so proud to represent BU at such a prestigious tournament,\u201d Br\u00e4ndli said. \u201cAt the end it\u2019s still sad that we didn\u2019t win. \u2026 But I\u2019m really happy I was able to experience that once in my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other side of the bracket, the Harvard Crimson were defeated 3-0 by the Boston College Eagles in the following semifinal game of the night and will face BU in a consolation game next week. However, the Terriers look ahead to their home game against BC this weekend before making the trip back to Chestnut Hill.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to try to take the positive out of this one and be ready to go for the last few regular season games,\u201d Durocher said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the consolation game, BU will partake in its third and final Battle of Comm. Ave this Saturday at Walter Brown Arena. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m., and the game will be available for streaming on ESPN+. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gracie Davenport Boston University Women\u2019s Hockey (10-16-3, 9-13-3 HE) fell 4-1 to the No. 5 Northeastern University Huskies (26-2-1, 22-2-1 HE) in their semifinal game of the 44th Women\u2019s Beanpot. The teams hashed it out Tuesday evening at Boston College\u2019s Conte Forum, marking the Terriers’ first loss in seven games.\u00a0 After a sluggish first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21299,"featured_media":36516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,1039,1041],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36515,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36513\/revisions\/36515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}