Boston College women’s goaltender Abigail Levy played her 100th collegiate hockey game against Merrimack on Friday night. It was fitting that in her 100th game, Levy earned her 12th career shutout.
Levy dominated the game for the Eagles (3–1, 2–0 Hockey East), stopping 22 Merrimack shots on her way to her first shutout of the season. She put up a complete performance, playing a couple pucks to the Merrimack blue line to help out with the Eagles’ power play, and using her veteran presence to help direct the Eagles defense in BC’s 4–0 victory over the Warriors (1–3, 0–2).
“I thought our whole D-zone was great, and Abby was a stalemate back there,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said.
BC dominated the game from the puck drop, netting its first goal of the afternoon just after its first line change. On a textbook weave play, Olivia O’Brien lifted the puck into the net off assists from Abby Newhook and Hannah Bilka for her first career goal.
“I’ve worked so hard the past three years, and I think now we’re just gonna keep going,” O’Brien said.
Bilka threaded the needle on her pass to set up the first goal, but her best play of the period would come several minutes later as she sniped the Warriors’ top left corner from just past the blue line to double the Eagles’ lead.
While BC did not directly convert either of the power plays its got from a pair of Merrimack hooking penalties, Warrior goaltender Emma Gorski failed to control a rebound as Alex Ferguson skated back onto the ice from the box, which Kate Ham cleaned up to put the Eagles up by three.
The Newhook–O’Brien–Bilka line continued to dominate the game. Bilka situated herself in a one-on-one against Gorski, and even though Gorski stopped Bilka’s initial attempt, it went through Gorski’s five-hole, and Abby Newhook finished the play, tapping the puck in from the crease.
Merrimack went on the power play midway through the second, but a lights-out performance from BC’s penalty-kill unit made it seem like BC had five players on the ice, as the Eagles put up the two best chances in that two-minute span.
The only low statistic of the day for the Eagles was their 0-for-5 showing on the power play, which will bring their season total to 1-for-11.
BC’s home-and-home against the Warriors marked BC’s 500th and 501st program wins, something Crowley said she was proud to be a part of.
“It’s so special seeing how our program has grown and to be able to hit that milestone … especially on alumni weekend,” Crowley said.
