BOSTON - The Boston University women's ice hockey team had its season come to a heartbreaking end on Wednesday evening as the Terriers fell to Merrimack, 5-4, in overtime in the opening round of the Hockey East tournament at Walter Brown Arena.

It marked the final contest for head coach Brian Durocher, who amassed 336 wins in 18 seasons as head coach at BU and is retiring after a coaching career that spanned 45 seasons.

The game featured four ties and a wild second period where each team found the back of the net three times. Neither team scored in the third following junior Julia Shaunessy's power-play goal in the closing moments of the middle period to create a 4-4 deadlock.

Alexa Pongo scored the winner 8:58 into overtime to send the Warriors to the league quarterfinals.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Natalie Nemes scored a pair of unassisted goals for the Warriors and her first opened the scoring 6:07 into the contest.
• BU got an equalizer at 13:51 of the first when senior Julia Nearis tapped in a rebound at the left crease following a bid from junior Clare O'Leary
• An eventful second period started off with a go-ahead goal from BU's Brooke Disher, as the freshman stole the puck and created space before shooting the puck off the right post and in at 7:05.
• Just 21 seconds later, the Warriors created a 2-2 deadlock when Alex Ferguson scored her first goal of the season off assists from Katie Kaufman and Nemes
• The Terriers quickly regained the lead, however, as freshman Clara Yuhn turned in an impressive effort, collecting her own rebound in the slot and backhanding it past Merrimack netminder Emma Gorski just 75 seconds after Merrimack had tied up the contest.
• That 3-2 lead lasted all of 72 seconds though as Nemes forced a turnover at the top of the Merrimack zone and created a breakaway that she converted for her second tally of the night.
• The only penalty of the contest came at 17:34 of the second and both teams scored on the ensuing BU power play.
• Sam Lessick gave the Warriors their second lead of the night when she potted a shorthanded goal 1:16 into the Terriers' player advantage.
• BU was still able to take advantage of the opportunity as junior Julia Shaunessy flung a shot off Gorski and in with just one second left on the power play and 26.6 seconds left in the second.
• The Terriers held a 15-6 shot advantage in the third but neither team was able to break the 4-4 tie before regulation came to an end.
• BU had the better of the play in the early stages of overtime, setting up a handful of good looks, but Gorski and the Merrimack defense were up to the task.
• Pongo ended the game when she swung a backhand on a bouncing puck near the left post after it had deflected off Brändli and found a tiny opening to the back of the net. 

GAME NOTES

• BU outshot Merrimack, 40-25, as Gorski made 36 saves and graduate student Andrea Brändli recorded 20 for the Terriers.
• Nine different Terriers recorded a point in the contest.
• Yuhn and Lessick tied for the game high in blocked shots with three.
• This marked the first time in program history that BU played an entire game without committing a penalty.