The University of Maine women’s hockey team fell to the Boston University Terriers 5-0 on Sunday in their season finale. The Terriers were led by third-year forward Rebecca Leslie, who scored the team’s first two goals and fourth-year goalie Victoria Hanson, who finished with 35 saves in her second shutout of the season.
The story of the game was power play goals. Though both teams gave up five power plays, the Terriers were able to convert three of them into goals.
Leslie started the scoring at 9:01 into the first when she snatched a loose puck in front of the Maine net and amidst a scramble, found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. That’s where the score would stay for the remainder of the first period, as the Terriers outshot the Black Bears 14-9 in the opening frame.
The Terriers came out of the intermission hot, capitalizing on a Maine hooking penalty just 25 seconds into the second period for a power play goal and a 2-0 advantage. This time, graduate student Mary Parker found Leslie in the left circle and Leslie fired the puck past Maine goalie Carly Jackson for her 13th goal of the season.
Then, with a minute and a half remaining in the second period, it was Leslie’s turn to return the favor and assist Parker. Both Leslie and fourth-year forward Maddie Elia had shots turned away before Parker was able to put a rebound home for her league-leading 23rd goal of the season.
With the score 3-0 after the second intermission, the Terriers continued to add to their lead. 59 seconds into the third period, third-year defender Savanna Newton intercepted a Black Bear outlet pass and got the puck ahead to third-year forward Victoria Bach, who blasted the puck into the top of the net to make it 4-0. The goal was Bach’s 22nd of the season.
Just over five minutes later, fourth-year forward Samantha Sutherland finished out the scoring by beating Maine fourth-year substitute goalie Mariah Fujimagari.
Jackson finished with 26 saves for the Black Bears in the first two periods of action while Fujimagari finished with 12 saves in the final period.
Throughout the entirety of the game, Maine was unable to slow down the Boston University offense, which has averaged an NCAA-best 5.40 goals in the month of February. The terriers have also converted an NCAA-best 36.8 percent of their power-play chances in February and possess the third-best power play scoring percentage in the nation (22.5 percent).
Though she finished one goal behind Parker in goals on the season, Bach finished the season first in the league in points (47) and assists (25).
The Black Bears finish the season at 10-21-1 overall and 6-17-1 in Hockey East action. With the victory, Boston University (17-10-6 overall, 12-8-4 in Hockey East) clinched the third seed in the Hockey East playoffs and will host New Hampshire in a best-of-three quarterfinal series that begins Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m. The Terriers won all three regular season contests against the Wildcats.
