By Brian Foisy
In a string of improbable upset wins, the celebration after junior forward Catherine Foulem’s shootout winner seemed just a little bigger than the rest.
The Boston University women’s hockey team (10-15-3, 9-12-3 Hockey East) continued its unbeaten streak with a 3-2 shootout victory against No. 15 University of Connecticut (16-10-4, 10-9-4 HE).
The celebration and energy after Friday’s win seemed to sum it all up: this team is getting hot, and at exactly the right time.
“I just think everyone’s buying in right now,” Foulem said postgame. “It’s really comforting and there’s just so much happiness around.”
The Terriers trailed for the majority of the game, putting their first goal on the board with less than four minutes to go in the third period.
Sophomore defenseman Ava Rinker got the first goal of the game, scoring off a rebound from senior forward Coryn Tormala’s miss midway through the first period.
While the Terriers had a few good looks near the end of the first period, the Huskies were by far the aggressor, outshooting BU 13-6.
BU head coach Brian Durocher talked about the Terriers’ execution in the first period. “I didn’t think we had any legs, any anticipation, really not much jump,” Durocher said postgame.
“We ended up giving up a goal and on a situation [where] there’s three of us and three of them and all three of their kids touched the puck because we didn’t mark them very well. So credit to them, but really think something we could have done a better job with, just all the way through the first.”
The Terriers took over in shots in the second period, but couldn’t get anything to stick. Although they outshot the Huskies 8-6 in the period, UConn was the only team to light the lamp during that period.
The Huskies second came after a puck squeaked through two Terrier defenders Riley Grimley snatched it and scored, doubling their lead.
“I was pleased with the way we played,” Coach Durocher said, on the second period, “but it was starting to look like maybe it wasn’t going to happen.”
Despite impressive effort, they still couldn’t get anything to go for them early in third, outshooting the Huskies 9-3 in the period, before the dam broke.
It was looking like the Terriers would have to pull their goalie before freshman defender Brooke Disher began the comeback for the Terriers with a goal off a centering pass from Foulem.
Then, with less than three minutes to go in the third, Foulem collected the puck and scored through a netfront scrum.
Graduate goalie Andrea Brändli made a handful of big saves to keep UConn off the board in overtime.
“I think the most important part about overtime is yes, you’re only three on the ice but with the goalie you’re four,” Brändli said of her overtime efforts. “I have to remind my players that we’re four on the ice and they’re not alone.”
“You gotta communicate a lot, and I think we did a great job,” the netminder added.
Foulem – the undisputable MVP of tonight’s win – came up again in the shootout to give the Terriers the victory.
The Terriers take on No. 5 Northeastern in the first round of the Women’s Beanpot on Tuesday. Puck drop is set for 5:00 pm with full coverage on Instagram @Boston.Hockey.Blog and Twitter @BosHockeyBlog.
Recent Comments