Women's Hockey Drops Decision to UNH

Avenge loss with shootout win Saturday night

by Danielle Medina

The No. 8 Boston University Terriers lost a hard-fought game to the No. 4 University of New Hampshire Wildcats 4-3 this past Friday night at Walter Brown Arena.  BU (3-3-4, 1-2-0 Hockey East) kept pace with UNH (8-1-2, 4-0-0 HE) for the first two periods, but ran out of steam in the third.

“Today we showed plenty of determination,” Head Coach Brian Durocher said of his team’s play, “But weren’t able to get one over the goal line to tie the game.”

The Terriers started off the scoring with a goal from freshman forward Jill Cardella (’13). Cardella took a swift pass from senior forward Melissa Anderson (’10) and effortlessly slid the puck past sophomore goalie Lindsey Minton. Junior forward Julie Allen answered for UNH to tie the game at 1-1 with just 37 seconds left in the opening period.

The second period was full of penalties from the Terriers. Senior forward Jonnie Bloemers (’10) was penalized early in the second period for interference. Two minutes later, senior defenseman Sarah Appleton (’10) was sent to the box for holding. Sophomore defenseman Tara Watchorn (’12) took two penalties in a row, one for holding and the other for tripping.

UNH capitalized on two of the turns with a man-advantage, with goals coming from freshman forward Kristina Lavoie and junior defenseman Courtney Birchard.  A mind-blowing wrister by Bloemers that whistled past Minton’s right shoulder, hit the iron, and ricocheted into the net.  The Terriers were closing in on a possible third period comeback.

However, UNH struck again.  A very difficult shot by defending Hockey East Player of the Month Kelly Patton squeezed by Haber  (28 saves) gave the Wildcats a 4-2 lead.

BU was able to cut it back to a one-goal game on the power play with 6:06 to play as sophomore defenseman Carly Warren (’12) took a shot from the point that was initially saved by Minton (20 saves), but sophomore forward Jenelle Kohanchuk (’12) was waiting in the slot for the rebound and put it away over Minton’s shoulder as she went down into the butterfly.

Despite their best efforts, the Terriers could not find the tying goal in the final minutes as the Wildcats played efficient puck possession hockey in BU’s zone and Minton was able to sniff out any counterattacks.

“We’re real close,” said Durocher about the one-goal loss, “but close only counts in a couple of areas, not on the score board.”

The Terriers avenged Friday’s loss the following night, defeating the Wildcats in a shootout and winning the game 5-4.  BU was trailing 3-0 after the first period, but goals scored by Shannon Mahoney, Kathryn Miller, Kasey Boucher and Jill Cardella ignited the Terriers rally.  Game recap for Saturday will be available soon.