Women defeat Cornell; reach national title game

Combining opportunistic offense and stifling defense, Terriers defeated second-seeded Cornell in the Frozen Four semis, 4-1, and advance to the NCAA Championship game. BU will play top-ranked Wisconsin on Sunday–-exactly 40 years to the day when the Terrier men’s team won its first title, defeating Minnesota. Cornell had come into the game with a goals against average just over 1.00.

After surrendering an early goal the Big Red, BU got the equalizer midway through the first from Catherine Ward. Then, in a second period heavily dominated by BU, senior Jill Kirschner (photo) and junior Jennelle Kohanchuk scored 50 seconds apart to grab a two-goal lead. Senior captain Holly Lorms added an empty net goal in the waning minutes. BU outshot Cornell 31-15, with freshman goalie Kerrin Sperry stopping 14 shots. Defenseman Kathryn Miller had a pair of assists for BU.

BU is the first Hockey East team to reach the national championship game and, with a win, would become the first non-WCHA team to claim a women’s national title.

• GoTerriers.com recap, comprehensive box score and photo gallery

• USCHO recap and slideshow

• Daily Free Press recap
• New England Hockey Journal recap

• Boston Herald recap
• ESPN recap

Looking back
David Van der Gulik, returned to Lake Erie after a short stint in Colorado and delivered three assists in a 7-2 win against Grand Rapids.

John McCarthy scored the only goal for Worcester in a 4-1 loss to Providence.