Women's Hockey: Skaters fall twice to No. 5 Boston University

The women’s ice hockey team’s winless streak stretched to six games with two losses to No. 5 Boston University over the Thanksgiving break. While most Princeton students left campus to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, the hockey team (3-9-1 overall, 3-5-1 ECAC Hockey) traveled to Boston to take on the Terriers (11-2-3) in back-to-back games.

Princeton lost the two games 8-2 and 2-1. Despite returning home with two losses, the Tigers can celebrate considerable improvement in the series, as they held Boston to only two goals in the second game compared to giving up eight goals in the first.

The Tigers struck first to open the series when junior forward Julie Johnson scored the opening goal after 8 minutes, 3 seconds to give Princeton an early 1-0 lead. That lead lasted less than a minute, however, because the Terriers won the faceoff and quickly fired off three shots on goal before tying the score 1-1 when the fourth shot found the back of the net.

The score remained tied for seven minutes while the Tigers and the Terriers traded shots and faceoffs. Boston broke the tie with a goal at 15:29 and, less than a minute later, widened its lead to 3-1. With less than two minutes left in the first period, junior forward Heather Landry scored for the Tigers to close the gap to 3-2.

Unfortunately, 3-2 is the closest the Tigers came to victory, as Boston capitalized on power plays and a relatively weak Princeton defense in the second and third periods. The Terriers scored five unanswered goals in the final two periods. Though the Terriers only earned one more power play than the Tigers, Princeton was scoreless in its five power-play opportunities, while the Terriers scored twice in six.

Despite giving up eight goals, junior goaltender Rachel Weber played a strong game with 25 saves as Boston outshot Princeton 33-28.

The Terriers’ goalie earned 26 saves while eight different Boston players scored during the match. Princeton’s missed power-play opportunities came mostly in the third period, when the Tigers outshot the Terriers 12-11 but gave up three goals and scored none.

The Tigers held the Terriers to fewer goals when they lined up against Boston again the following day. The game was scoreless for the first 15 minutes until Boston scored on its second power-play opportunity. Princeton fell behind 2-0 early in the second period and failed to convert a power-play opportunity of its own.

After 14 minutes of play in the second period, however, freshman forward Olivia Mucha finally broke through Boston’s defense to keep the Tigers within reach at 2-1. Princeton successfully thwarted 11 shots as the Terriers struggled to widen their lead on two power-play opportunities.

With just under seven minutes remaining on the clock, the Tigers saw their best chance at evening up the score. Boston’s goalie deflected a goal attempt, but then Stearns got the rebound and aimed at an empty net. Stearns shot the puck, but at the last second a Terrier defender prevented Princeton from evening up the score with a diving stick save.

Only one goal behind one of the nation’s best teams and with three minutes left on the clock, the Tigers drew a penalty to earn a final power-play opportunity in the two-game series. After five shots on goal, the last of which missed by centimeters as it bounced off the pipe, the Tigers failed to push the game to overtime.

Although the result of the second game was the same as the first, the statistics improved for the Tigers, whose defense held the Terriers to only two goals in the second game and only one goal in four power plays. Weber’s stats also improved, as she made 29 saves on 31 shots. The two losses this weekend against the Terriers come after a loss to No. 2 Cornell, a loss to Colgate and a tie with Harvard. Princeton is undoubtedly disappointed at losing another close game to a ranked team, but stronger play in its second game against Boston bodes well for the team.

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After playing and losing its last four games on the road, the Tigers hope to capitalize on their home-ice advantage in their next six games, all of which will be played at Baker Rink.