Monday, November 12, 2012
7
BC holds on in third period despite offensive surge for Terriers Men’s hockey: From page 8
to put away a bouncing puck in front of the net. Then, after BC killed off senior center Pat Mullane’s second penalty and the team’s third, BU took two penalties in quick succession — the first a slash on freshman center Wesley Myron, and the second a trip against junior wing Matt Nieto. The Eagles began the second period with a prolonged 5-on-3 advantage. The Terriers killed off that BC power play as well as two more later in the period. But they could not match BC in the faceoff circle, and
once again they only mustered six shots on netminder Parker Milner in the period, who turned each shot away without much trouble. “The fact that they didn’t score on the 5-on-3, I thought it would give us a big lift, but the second period was more them than it was us, and the third period was much more us than it was them,” Parker said. With their backs against the wall, the Terriers came at Milner with more intensity in the third, firing 15 shots on him after only taking 12 through the first two periods combined. O’Connor stopped BC forward Kevin Hayes on a breakaway just
before the halfway mark of the third, bringing the crowd to its feet. But it was Hayes who scored the Eagles’ all-important second goal shortly afterward. BC came down on a 2-on-1 against BU senior defenseman Sean Escobedo, and Escobedo laid out to block a pass across from Hayes. However, Hayes collected the puck in the corner, threw it back on net and saw it bounce in off O’Connor’s back. “It wasn’t because of a lack of effort, but they both made a bad read and they both looked at each other, instead of one guy taking charge and
Alford, Moran lead Terriers over Boston College Women’s basketball: From page 8
Although BC did not shoot much better than the Terriers (30 percent from the field), the Eagles were in large part helped by the 3-point game. Freshman Nicole Boudreau dropped two of the Eagles’ 3-pointers and senior guard Kerri Shields hit all five of her free throws, allowing BC to have a slim lead of 20–19 after one half. “It was a weird game, that first half,” Alford said. “It wasn’t pretty for either team.” Although junior forward Whitney Turner hit her opening shot on a driving layup to start the second half for BU, things got out of control quickly. The Eagles, led by Shields and forward Katie Zenevitch, went on a 12–2 run, giving them a 32–27 lead going into a timeout early in the half. After the timeout, the Terriers seemed to play like a team on another level. With senior guard Mo Moran running the point, BU went on a run that propelled the team to victory. “We stayed poised on both ends of the floor,” Alford said. “We hit some big shots and made some big shots.” The Terriers shot at a much
higher rate of 47.8 percent, including an improved 45.5 percent from behind the arc after finishing the first half shooting under 30 percent from the field. Although Alford struggled in the early portion of the second half, she picked up the slack and hit some crucial 3-pointers during a 25–4 run by the Terriers. Moran and Agboola played crucial roles in the second half surge, with Moran dishing out key assists, and Agboola going 3-for-4 from the field. However it was not just the offense that propelled the Terriers in the second half, but the defense that helped the BU run. “We had a lot of defensive pressure,” Alford said. “That’s what we pride ourselves on.” The Terrier defense forced BC to turn the ball over seven times in the second half. BU also recorded three blocks in the second half, two from Agboola and one from Turner. “It’s nice to have Rashidat and Whitney behind in the back,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg, “we really pride ourselves in the halfcourt defense. We also made a lot of adjustments in the second half and I credit our players to do that on the fly in the first game of the year.” Part of the second-half surge
on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball was the spark provided by junior guard Danielle Callahan. The transfer was playing her first game with the Terriers after sitting out all of last season with an injury. The junior hit two key 3-pointers and provided strong defense. With seven seconds remaining in the game, Moran sank a pair of free throws and solidified the victory by putting the Terriers up six. The win not only jumpstarted the season, but it also gave Greenberg her 150th victory as a BU coach. “As Chantell would tell you I’m not a numbers person, but BU has been a special place to me,” Greenberg said. “The players I’ve coached over the years and the current players, that’s what it’s all about.” On Monday the Terriers play another tough non-conference opponent in West Virginia University. “We take [non-conference games] very importantly,” Greenberg said. “Everyone knows I always say that if I take my mom in the backyard and play her I’d want to beat the hell out of her. I don’t care how old she is. I want to win anything we play.”
yelling, ‘I got this guy,’” Parker said of the 2-on-1 that led to the goal. BC sophomore Johnny Gaudreau made it 3–0 shortly afterward when he tapped a pass from senior Pat Mullane into the net from the slot. “Gaudreau can get some gorgeous goals and he’s a terrific player in this league,” Parker said. “We don’t need to have him have a tap-in like that.” The lead proved to be insurmountable, but BU kept it interesting when freshman defenseman Matt Grzelcyk snapped a short-side shot past Milner for his first collegiate goal. BU had a chance to pull within one when BC was called for too
many men on the ice and O’Connor was pulled for an extra attacker. Instead, though, BC center Bill Arnold flipped the puck the length of the ice for an empty-netter that made it 4–1. Right after the empty-netter, a slick passing play led to a goal from sophomore defenseman Alexx Privitera, a slap shot from the point that eluded BC goalie Parker Milner to make it 4–2. It was the first goal of the season for Privitera, who also blocked five shots on the night. “We’ll see them again later on, and this game will make us grow up,” Parker said. “Either way, this game is going to help us.”
Power play fails to score early in loss to No. 1 BC Power play: From page 8
same for BU, as BC cleared the puck four times, while BU went offsides once and did not get a single shot. During BU’s one good chance on the power play, the puck bounced over freshman center Danny O’Regan’s stick in the slot leading to a BC clear. BU coach Jack Parker said the Terriers struggled to get the puck into the offensive zone on the power play because BC had a good defensive strategy in place. “I thought they did a really good job of loading up,” Parker said. “We came up with a three-man swing and they had four men waiting … We had to carry the puck in the zone, and you can’t do that with a three-man swing. Halfway through the second-period we went to a five-man swing and that helped us out with attacking with speed.” The new offensive strategy helped, but it did not produce any results for the Terriers until it was too late. On the Terriers seventh power play — after the score differential was already widened to 4–1 — sophomore defenseman Alexx Privitera fired a slap shot from the point past BC netminder Parker Milner to bring the score to 4–2.
Senior forward Ryan Santana credited the speed of the game for the Terriers’ power-play struggles early on. “It is BU–BC. Things are going to happen a little bit quicker, whether it is BU-Merrimack or any other Hockey East team,” Santana said. “Maybe it was that … Once guys were able to move it around they looked great.” BU’s power play has not been its strong point early on in the season, as it is currently sixth in the league with a 16.1 power-play percentage. That total is even behind the University of Vermont — which is second-to-last in Hockey East in scoring offense — as the Catamounts have a 17.4 percent power-play percentage on the season. The Terriers found some positivity in their special teams play though, as they held BC’s power play scoreless in their six chances. BU’s penalty kill is third in the league with an 87.5 percent success rate. Parker said the penalty kill helped make up for the power-play struggles.
“We got on the power play, and it deflated us and when we killed their power plays off it elated us a little, but not at the same, it wasn’t balanced out,” Parker said.
BU freshmen make youthful, Terriers drop costly errors in loss to Huskies season-opener Freshmen: From page 8
reers in an energized environment that had the relentless Northeastern student section only feet from the court. It was a test for the freshman to see if they could stand the chaotic environment and play their game. Watson, ranked 92nd in his class in ESPN’s Top 100 recruits for college basketball, ran the BU offense for most of the game. Watson played 23 minutes registering four assists and six points. Early on in the game Watson struggled on offense with a few bad passes and difficultly reading the Northeastern defense. “The size and length of players right now are going to hurt [Watson] a little bit,” Jones said. “It’s hard to duplicate in practice because we are not so big and athletic and long. I thought the size
of the zone and him not being able to look over the zone was an issue. “Obviously, this early in the year you are not as good at some things that you want to do, especially offensively. We just have to keep getting better.” Dieudonne played 18 minutes and was a force on the boards, pulling down nine rebounds. He also added seven points. Both Dieudonne and Watson started the game for the Terriers. Coming off the bench, Papale hit two 3-pointers in 20 minutes. Alston also saw some time off the bench and pulled down one rebound for the Terriers. “It’s a young group,” said Jones. “With them you have to keep them upbeat and positive, that’s the big thing. We have some talent, but we are just a young team.”
Follow us on Twitter:
@DFPsports @BOShockeyblog @dfphoops
in final seconds Men’s basketball: From page 8
With the game entering the final minute, Northeastern trailed by one. They were able to pull ahead by two but a clutch 3-pointer from Thomas put BU back on top. With 10.7 seconds remaining and down by two, Demetrius Pollard took the Huskies fate into his own hands and nailed a dagger from behind the 3-point line with 0.7 seconds remaining. “We wanted to make sure we communicated defensively and that if they took a shot, it was well contested … when [Pollard] got it I thought he was just so open, he’s a good shooter and once it left his hands I just put my head down, it looked good from the start,” Jones said. Unfortunately for BU, the fraction of a second was not enough for the Terriers to recover, and they walked off the court with their heads down as Northeastern students rushed the court in celebration. “We have a game Monday against Canisius on Monday night, we’ve got to learn from the things we didn’t do well tonight,” Jones said. “But I’m proud of the guys, I thought they played hard, they competed.”
JACKIE ROBERTSON/DAILY FREE PRESS FILE STAFF
Sophomore forward Malik Thomas scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds in BU’s season-opening loss to Northeastern.
