Women's Hockey @ Northeastern (1/13/08)
by Jeremy Binckes
The Boston University Terriers (7-9-2, 4-3-0 Hockey East) began 2008 the same way they ended 2007 - by winning. On Sunday afternoon, BU won their fourth consecutive game, this time beating the Northeastern University Huskies (4-13-2, 3-4-0 HE) by a score of 3-1. The Terriers offense, which looked promising heading into the month-long break, has seemingly turned the corner, while Allyse Wilcox (23 saves) has all but shored up her spot as the number 1 goaltender. Entering the game, Wilcox sported a 1.77 goals against average, which ranked her 8th in the nation.
“There’s a lot of real positives in [the victory],” BU head coach Brian Durocher said. “It puts us ahead of Northeastern, and gets us over .500 [in Hockey East].”
The Terriers, who played very sloppy in their first two shifts, wasted little time in scoring when - under 5 minutes into the game - junior co-captain Sarah Russell cradled the puck on the blue line right side, then passed to senior defender Julie Poulin on the left. Poulin ripped a laser beam, which caught sophomore forward Melissa Anderson’s stick, hitting off the inside of the crossbar, to give the Terriers the 1-0 lead. It was Anderson’s 7th goal of the season.
BU would waste no time getting their second goal, when, under just 1:40 later, freshman forward Lauren Cherewyk found a loose puck in the Terriers’ defensive zone. Cherewyk went coast-to-coast, beating defender Lauren Berg with a slap shot, before passing freshman goaltender Leah Sulyma (35 saves) and landing it in the meshing of the top-left corner of the cage.
“A 2-goal lead is a good lead to have going into the second,” junior co-captain Gina Kearns said. “It’s our first game back, so we definitely wanted to come out strong.”
The Huskies, who despite having a 4-13-2 record, have beaten Boston College and Providence this season. That being said, it was not a surprise to Kearns or Durocher that the Huskies came out strong in the second period, outplaying the Terriers, according to Durocher. The saving grace for the Terriers was Wilcox, who turned aside 8 shots in the second, all of them good quality. Her most impressive save came midway through the stanza when, from a seated position, she somehow pulled out her left leg, straightened it, and made a left pad save to deny Northeastern.
“She made those, probably 4 or 5 saves that you need to make to win a game,” Durocher said.
Wilcox’s bid for a second complete-game shutout would be dashed with just 30 seconds left to play in the middle frame. Huskies forward Alyssa Wohlfeiler broke in on Russell, and was able to sneak a shot past Wilcox’s left, pulling the Huskies to within one.
But the Terriers’ second line ended Northeastern’s hopes of a comeback just 1:14 into the final period, when freshman forward Jillian Kirchner came around the net to Sulyma’s left, and tried to stuff it in. Sulyma, expecting a centering pass, moved to her right. The puck hit off the bottom of the cage, where junior forward Caroline Bordeau found it loose and with daylight. From the edge of the crease, it was easy pickings to give the Terriers the insurance goal.
Terriers Notes:
- Freshman forward Jillian Kirchner must believe in giving. It’s the only way to explain her 5-game assist streak, in which she has 8 points (1-7-8). She is tied for 7th in Hockey East with 11 assists.
- On the injury front, Durocher confirmed that freshman forward Holly Lorms would be in the starting lineup this weekend against Providence and/or the University of Connecticut. Lorms broke her wrist on November 20th at Maine.
“If it were game 6 or game 7 of the playoffs,” Durocher said, “she would have played.” He added that he wanted to get her strength up before starting the forward. In the 13 games prior to her injury, Lorms had 3 goals and 1 assist on the second line.
The Terriers’ next game will be this Saturday, as they host the #10 University of Connecticut Huskies. Tune into WTBU at 3p.m., with Terriers Today kicking things off at 2:40.
The Boston University Terriers (7-9-2, 4-3-0 Hockey East) began 2008 the same way they ended 2007 - by winning. On Sunday afternoon, BU won their fourth consecutive game, this time beating the Northeastern University Huskies (4-13-2, 3-4-0 HE) by a score of 3-1. The Terriers offense, which looked promising heading into the month-long break, has seemingly turned the corner, while Allyse Wilcox (23 saves) has all but shored up her spot as the number 1 goaltender. Entering the game, Wilcox sported a 1.77 goals against average, which ranked her 8th in the nation.
“There’s a lot of real positives in [the victory],” BU head coach Brian Durocher said. “It puts us ahead of Northeastern, and gets us over .500 [in Hockey East].”
The Terriers, who played very sloppy in their first two shifts, wasted little time in scoring when - under 5 minutes into the game - junior co-captain Sarah Russell cradled the puck on the blue line right side, then passed to senior defender Julie Poulin on the left. Poulin ripped a laser beam, which caught sophomore forward Melissa Anderson’s stick, hitting off the inside of the crossbar, to give the Terriers the 1-0 lead. It was Anderson’s 7th goal of the season.
BU would waste no time getting their second goal, when, under just 1:40 later, freshman forward Lauren Cherewyk found a loose puck in the Terriers’ defensive zone. Cherewyk went coast-to-coast, beating defender Lauren Berg with a slap shot, before passing freshman goaltender Leah Sulyma (35 saves) and landing it in the meshing of the top-left corner of the cage.
“A 2-goal lead is a good lead to have going into the second,” junior co-captain Gina Kearns said. “It’s our first game back, so we definitely wanted to come out strong.”
The Huskies, who despite having a 4-13-2 record, have beaten Boston College and Providence this season. That being said, it was not a surprise to Kearns or Durocher that the Huskies came out strong in the second period, outplaying the Terriers, according to Durocher. The saving grace for the Terriers was Wilcox, who turned aside 8 shots in the second, all of them good quality. Her most impressive save came midway through the stanza when, from a seated position, she somehow pulled out her left leg, straightened it, and made a left pad save to deny Northeastern.
“She made those, probably 4 or 5 saves that you need to make to win a game,” Durocher said.
Wilcox’s bid for a second complete-game shutout would be dashed with just 30 seconds left to play in the middle frame. Huskies forward Alyssa Wohlfeiler broke in on Russell, and was able to sneak a shot past Wilcox’s left, pulling the Huskies to within one.
But the Terriers’ second line ended Northeastern’s hopes of a comeback just 1:14 into the final period, when freshman forward Jillian Kirchner came around the net to Sulyma’s left, and tried to stuff it in. Sulyma, expecting a centering pass, moved to her right. The puck hit off the bottom of the cage, where junior forward Caroline Bordeau found it loose and with daylight. From the edge of the crease, it was easy pickings to give the Terriers the insurance goal.
Terriers Notes:
- Freshman forward Jillian Kirchner must believe in giving. It’s the only way to explain her 5-game assist streak, in which she has 8 points (1-7-8). She is tied for 7th in Hockey East with 11 assists.
- On the injury front, Durocher confirmed that freshman forward Holly Lorms would be in the starting lineup this weekend against Providence and/or the University of Connecticut. Lorms broke her wrist on November 20th at Maine.
“If it were game 6 or game 7 of the playoffs,” Durocher said, “she would have played.” He added that he wanted to get her strength up before starting the forward. In the 13 games prior to her injury, Lorms had 3 goals and 1 assist on the second line.
The Terriers’ next game will be this Saturday, as they host the #10 University of Connecticut Huskies. Tune into WTBU at 3p.m., with Terriers Today kicking things off at 2:40.
posted by Chris Aliano at
4:03 PM
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