The Boston University women’s ice hockey team fell to the Maine Black Bears 3-1 on Friday night after a slow start.
The Terriers (12-15-3, 10-12-1 Hockey East) fell back into old habits, scoring only one goal after a 3-0 shutout of Boston College in their previous matchup.
“It was a very slow start for us,” head coach Tara Watchorn said postgame. “That’s not the team that we are, and we’ll try to rebound from that.”
The Black Bears (12-16-2, 8-13-2 HE) — riding a seven-game winless streak — maintained consistent pressure on the Terriers and found their game early with some big plays by the crease.
Maine opened the scoring up at 12:29 in the first when freshman forward Bria Holm scored her first career goal with a tip-in from senior defender Elise Morphy’s rocket from the top of the circle.
The next 20 minutes were quiet, as the next goal came at 14:08 in the second. Abby Latorella got around senior defender Andi Calderone and beat junior goaltender Callie Shanahan to extend the Black Bears’ lead to two.
Three-and-a-half minutes later, Terrier sophomore forward Luisa Welcke rebounded her own shot to cut the Maine lead in half.
The teams traded opportunities and possession, with neither gaining any valuable zone time through the remainder of the second.
The beginning of the third was met with similar Maine pressure, and the Black Bears scored another mid-period goal to go back up by two at 11:02. Freshman forward Raegan Wurm found herself in the perfect place in the crease to send in senior defender Kennedy Little’s shot behind Shanahan.
Shanahan saved a total of 28 shots and has started in eight of the Terriers’ last 11 games since returning from injury.
“From everything I see, she’s feeling good, she’s playing good. She kept us in that one early and just fun to see her play better and better,” Watchorn said about Shanahan.
The Terriers’ powerplay at 13:06 in the third saw a few shots from BU and increased offensive zone time from previous powerplays, but they couldn’t find the final piece to score.
“We’re moving the puck well, we can maybe zip it a bit faster with a little bit more urgency, but we’re getting shots there. There’s rebounds sitting there. We’re making some east-west plays and some good looks but just not burying them,” Watchorn said. “Just back to the basics.”
Down by two entering the final few minutes of the third, the Terriers defended an empty net, but came up short in the comeback efforts.
The Terriers were missing senior captain and defender Nadia Mattivi, who is currently playing with Team Italy. She is slated to return to the Terrier lineup next weekend in a split against University of Vermont and Merrimack College.
“Any change is gonna make it a little bit more difficult and obviously someone like Nadia is a big part of our lineup. But I do think our girls stepped up it’s a factor but by no means an excuse,” Watchorn said.
In their last two meetings with the Catamounts, the Terriers had their most productive offensive weekend all season, with ten goals between the two games. The team will look to return to the high-scoring end of the box score, with just four games remaining in the season.
Puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday, and 4 p.m. on Saturday, and the Boston Hockey Blog will have full coverage of the matchup, so be sure to follow along on Twitter (X) @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog.
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