The University of Maine women’s hockey team was able to split their weekend series with the No. six Boston University Terriers. Maine dropped the series opener of Friday afternoon, getting shutout 3-0, but was able to win the Saturday game by the score of 4-2.
Black Bears shut out by Terriers
Game one may have seemed one sided on the scoreboard, but the game was much closer than it would appear. The two teams battled through a scoreless first period, despite 19 combined shots on goal.
The Terriers got on the board first just 28 seconds into the second period, when a shot by third-year forward Sarah Lefort was stopped by Maine goaltender Meghann Treacy, but the rebound went right to fourth-year forward and two-time Canadian Olympian Marie-Philip Poulin who put the puck in the net. For Poulin, it was her fifth goal of the season.
BU would score again at 12:54 of the second period when a shot by third-year defenseman Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga was tipped past Treacy by first-year forward Victoria Bach to give the Terriers a 2-0 lead.
These types of goals are scored when a team shoots the puck often, and the Terriers did, getting some nice rebound opportunities throughout the game.
“We got a couple of lucky bounces,” BU head coach Brian Durocher said, “we had a little misfire and [Poulin] was able to get the puck and scored and we had the other one go in off a stomach or something. That was timely for us.”
Maine put the pressure on the Terriers in the third, dominating play, but BU was able to score the lone goal of the period to put the game on ice. Lefort was able to carry the puck into the offensive zone and fire a wrist shot over the glove side shoulder of Treacy to make the game 3-0 Terriers.
“What happened today, we just have to put that in the back of our minds and focus on the positives,” Treacy said. “We dominated the third period… we had good puck decisions and we worked hard.”
Both goalies worked hard for both teams, as Treacy collected 27 saves for the Black Bears and BU second-year goaltender Victoria Hanson finished the game with 20 saves. Both teams were 0-3 on the power play, and the Black Bears had the final three power play opportunities, including one in the third period.
“This was one of those games where I don’t think the coaches were in control,” Durocher said on Friday’s game, “Both teams were playing hard.”
Both teams did play hard, and Maine Coach Richard Reichenbach was impressed by his team’s play.
“Despite the loss, I think we took a huge step forward because we really made smart decisions with the puck,” Reichenbach said on the strong performance Friday, “We battled and we competed and we pushed two of the final frozen four teams from the last three years right to the brink.”
Black Bears bounce back
Maine picked up right where they left off on Saturday’s game, battling to a 4-2 victory. Once again, BU started the scoring when first-year forward Rebecca Leslie found third-year forward Rebecca Russo who beat Treacy to give the Terriers a 1-0 advantage.
Maine would answer in the second period on the power play, and after cycling in the offensive zone, second-year forward Morgan Sakundiak found third-year defenseman Kelsey MacSorley at the point who fired a slap shot through traffic and beat BU’s first-year netminder Erin O’Neil to tie the game at one. Maine has been 0-25 on the power play before MacSorley’s goal. The Black Bears went 1-2 on the power play in game two, and the Terriers went 0-3.
“We set it up on the power play, and it was a nice pass from Morgan Sakundiak to the point and I saw a lane to the net. I took the shot and it went top corner,” MacSorley said on her goal.
There would be no scoring until a little over halfway through the third period, but the goals came easily for the Black Bears, who scored three goals in seven minutes. The first of these three goals was the go-ahead goal by second-year forward Emilie Brigham. Brigham and Sakundiak were on an odd man rush, and Brigham elected to shoot, and beat O’Neil up high to give Maine the lead.
Third-year forward Audra Richards then followed up with what proved to be the game-winner at 13:17 of the third, dragging the puck around the crease after a scramble in front of the net and burying it for the goal. Fourth-years Brittney Huneke and Hailey Browne assisted on the goal.
“The puck got shot and it got stuck in between my legs so I toe-pulled it and did my normal move to to the backhand and got it over the goalie’s pad,” Richards said on her goal.
Richards would score again on an empty netter with less than a minute to play to make the game 4-1 in favor of Maine. BU would add another goal however, when fourth-year forward Sarah Bayersdorfer put the puck past Treacy off a faceoff with two seconds to play in the game.
BU outshot Maine 43-30 in a very offensively charged game, and each goalie was tested once again. Treacy made 41 saves for the Black Bears and O’Neil was able to stop 26 shots.
“I was going off my teammates and built my confidence…everything was working for our team,” Treacy said.
“We know we can compete with these top-level teams…now that we know we can do it let’s actually win and push for that victory instead of playing to survive. There was definitely a mentality switch halfway through the second period,” Reichenbach said on the significance of beating a top ten ranked opponent.
After the weekend, Maine is 3-5-1 (2-1-0 WHEA) and currently leads the Hockey East conference play by two points. BU sits at 4-2-0 (1-1-0 WHEA) and is currently tied for second in Hockey East after Maine hands them their first conference loss of the season.
Maine will hit the road for two conference games on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 against the University of Connecticut and Northeastern University, respectively. The Black Bears will then head to Brown University for a two game series before heading back home to the Alfond for a series with Providence College on Nov. 22 and 23.