Although the Terriers narrowly lost to Northeastern University in the women’s Beanpot Championship game, there is still a lot of hockey left to be played this season.
“This is just a little bump in our journey,” senior forward and assistant captain Catherine Foulem said following the 2-1 overtime loss on Tuesday. “For playoffs, we’ll get them back, and we’ll be on the other side of this.”
The Boston University women’s hockey team should be proud of its efforts in such a historical contest — playing for the first time at TD Garden — but for now, the next opponent awaits. BU (11-11-3, 9-8-1 Hockey East) will face off against the Holy Cross Crusaders (5-16-2, 2-13-2 HE) for a pair of games this weekend.
Since coming back from break, the Terriers have a newfound identity. Their offense is clicking, their belief is there and junior goaltender Callie Shanahan is standing on her head.
“We’re getting more belief and buy-in to our identity, and that’s just wearing teams down,” BU head coach Tara Watchorn said on her team’s second-half mentality.
While allowing opponents to get back into games was an issue early on in the season, BU never gave up on Tuesday. Even after allowing Northeastern to open the scoring in the final minute of the second period, the Terriers fought until the end. And as a result, Foulem tied the game late at one apiece to force overtime.
“They’re a completely new team,” Watchorn said. “I really feel like they all stepped up and took ownership…and our staff did a great job.”
However, one component that was missing from their hard-fought Beanpot performance was a power-play tally. The Terriers failed to convert on their four attempts on the man advantage, and it hurt them by the sound of the final horn.
It will be essential to get back on track this weekend, especially against a struggling Crusader team that is 41st of 44 teams in the PairWise rankings and last in Hockey East.
BU already defeated Holy Cross this season by a score of 2-1 heading into break on Dec. 8. Sophomore forward Luisa Welcke’s late power-play goal with four minutes remaining in regulation lifted her team to the victory, but it will be key for the Terriers’ newly established offense to capitalize early and often this weekend.
Five things to know about Holy Cross:
- The Crusaders have dropped their last eight straight games, with their most recent pair of losses coming against Providence on Jan. 19 and 20.
- Holy Cross has allowed at least one power-play goal in its last seven games.
- In net, the Crusaders have split time between senior Madison Beck and sophomore Brooke Loranger, with Beck posting a .919 save percentage and 2.42 goals-against average over 14 starts this season.
- Senior forward Millie Sirum leads the way offensively for the Crusaders with seven goals and eight assists through 23 games, however, she has not scored since Nov. 28.
- Holy Cross holds a 4-11-0 all-time record against BU.
The Terriers will face off against Holy Cross at Walter Brown Arena on Friday at 6 p.m. with Saturday’s 7 p.m rematch at the Hart Center Rink to follow. The Boston Hockey Blog will have full coverage of the matchups, so be sure to follow along on Twitter (X) @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog.
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