The Boston University women’s hockey team (5-3-3) has a quicker turnaround than usual as they prepare to face the Holy Cross Crusaders (1-10) for a Thursday-Friday series. The group will look to get back into the winning column after getting swept by UConn last weekend.
The Crusaders were last at Walter Brown Arena on Sep. 25th for the season opening exhibition game against BU where they lost 0-2. Junior forward Julia Nearis and freshman forward Liv Haag earned the Terriers’ two tallies in the competition. Things have not gotten better for Holy Cross since that shutout loss.
Now on a six game losing streak, the Crusaders have garnered only one win this season and have averaged a low 1.4 goals per game which clearly hasn’t helped their cause. Their single victory was against Franklin Pierce University, but Holy Cross has yet to collect two points in a Hockey East match up.
Sophomore forward Millie Sirum leads her group with 5 points (3g, 2a) while offensive zone success has been scarce for the team. Holy Cross has been shutout three times during the regular season––the Terriers need to capitalize on this weakness and get on the board early and often in the series.
Senior goaltender Jada Brenon has been in between the pipes for the Crusaders for the majority of their games this year. Brenon has a 3.76 goals-against-average and .899 save percentage to show for her performance thus far.
Holy Cross is no doubt struggling this season but––as BU has learned from experience––that’s no reason to count them out. The Terriers can’t let themselves play down to their competition as they’ve done in previous competitions, and need to bring the same energy they would against a team like Northeastern.
Not much has changed in terms of team leaders for BU. Nearis as well as senior forwards Courtney Correia and Mackenna Parker continue to be the backbone of the Terrier offense. The sophomore class of defenseman have really stepped up this year, and senior netminder Kate Stuart has stayed consistent in her shutdown play.
All the group really needs to do is put together a full 60 minutes and tighten up some minor discrepancies from their UConn series. BU played some good hockey against the Huskies, but beat themselves in bad penalties and miscommunications. But they fought––they worked hard, and maintained a competitive spirit throughout the weekend.
In a league as good as Hockey East you obviously need more than “the spirit” to be successful, you need to win games. The Terriers have the talent, the coaching, and the determination to reach their fullest potential, it’s simply a matter of attention to detail to all aspects of their game.
This weekend is a great opportunity for BU to get their mojo back and hopefully gain some confidence after being swept. The puck will drop in in Worcester on Thursday at 6:00p.m. and at Walter Brown Arena on Friday at 7:00p.m. We’ll have recaps up on the blog following each game.
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