After the final horn at Agganis Arena on Tuesday night, Tara Watchorn hugged her fellow coaches. That was where the head coach’s celebration of the 7-1 opening game victory ended.
“We’re on to Minnesota,” she said to them.
The Terriers (1-0, 1-0 Hockey East) made a statement on Tuesday evening with an offensive explosion and tone-setting victory against a physical Merrimack team. It is the first time BU has scored seven goals in a game since the Beanpot Consolation game in 2023 — the year before Watchorn took over.
The BU women’s team is attempting to ride this momentum right into the lion’s den this weekend as they take on a daunting Minnesota team on the road. The No. 2 Golden Gophers started their season with a road sweep of No. 9 Connecticut and it would take an Odyssean effort to defeat them, even for a promising and scrappy Terriers squad.
“It’s where we want to be. We want to play for national championships,” Watchorn said. “I’m really excited for our group to see what it takes to play one of the best and it’s going to be a great learning experience.”
Terriers hot off of an offensive domination
It wasn’t too much of a surprise to see the Terriers defeat Merrimack on Tuesday — but it was a surprise to see them do it in such a dominating fashion. BU’s Achilles’ heel under Watchorn seems to be losing to teams below them (see: Holy Cross last season), it’s encouraging to see them take care of business, and do so with panache.
The Terriers, most impressively, did it with a diversity of offense, whether it was freshman forward Lola Reid’s ridiculous deke of Merrimack goaltender Calli Hogarth, senior defenseman Tamara Giaquinto’s snipe from the point or junior forward Clara Yuhn from the slot.
“It came from every line, it came from every age — transfers, freshmen, returners. It was great,” Watchorn said. “We were willing to go to the hard areas but also able to finish in such a skilled way at the same time.”
If lines remain the same, Lindsay Bochna-Christina Vote-Yuhn will continue to be a high-energy, veteran top line. The Luisa Welcke-Lilli Welcke-Riley Walsh line wasn’t as prolific as it was in the Concordia scrimmage, but the three remain a threat.
The most interesting has been Liv Haag-Kaileigh Quigg-Reid. Reid, a freshman, scored her first goal and earned a pair of assists while Quigg also added her first goal as a Terrier against Merrimack. The youth of the line leaves it susceptible to growing pains. However, Haag, a senior, will help stabilize it as the freshmen gain experience.
The Minnesota defense was strong last season, but it wasn’t necessarily headlining the league with around two goals allowed per game. This season, they held Connecticut to one and two goals, respectively.
If the BU offense can keep up its dynamism, the Terriers can stay alive in a series where they are playing on house money.
Special teams a specialty?
A highlight of the Watchorn era at BU has been special teams’ play.
The Terriers played an aggressive, chippy Merrimack team that could not stay out of the penalty box with six minors in the contest. BU took advantage, going three-for-six on power plays. This is great news for a team that was in the middle of the pack last season, converting penalties at a 17.7% rate.
A 50% conversion rate is far from sustainable. However, a Terriers team with a better game plan entering man-advantage situations will give them an additional edge over top teams like Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers are a much more disciplined team than Merrimack, committing six penalties across both games this season.
On the penalty kill, the Terriers went two-for-three last game. Merrimack’s lone goal came on the power play. BU was the fourth-best team in the nation in the penalty kill last season and needs to keep that identity.
Mari Pieterson projected in net
In the preseason, Watchorn said the Terriers were running a “one-two punch” at goaltender. The recovery of senior Callie Shanahan from an injury last season and the offseason breakout of sophomore Mari Pieterson led BU to a strong goaltending room.
Watchorn maintained Shanahan would be the “one” in the “one-two punch.” However, when the team took the ice Tuesday, Pieterson’s name was read aloud.
Shanahan had an “incident in practice where she wasn’t feeling 100%,” Watchorn said postgame.
“It’s nothing extreme or long-term but I figure we have capable hands in Mari,” she added.
It is unclear how long Shanahan will be sidelined, meaning Pieterson could once again get the nod against Minnesota. Pieterson has looked strong in her early season play, taking a noticeable step up since last season.
The Minnesota offense is near the top of the nation and strengthened with the addition of freshman offensive defenseman Chloe Primerano, who has already notched three points on the season.
Opposite of Pieterson in net for Minnesota will be senior Skylar Vetter, who earned a .921 save percentage last season. Vetter was not tested much in the Connecticut series, facing 10 and 13 shots.
Puck drop for Friday’s game will be 7 p.m. EST while Sunday’s game will begin at 2 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus.
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