While the year is coming to an end, the second half of the Boston College women’s hockey season is just beginning.
Now tied for first in Hockey East, No. 13 Boston College (10–7–2, 9–3–2 Hockey East) added to its momentum with a win against a new opponent: Saint Anselm (10–8–1, 10–3–1 New England Women’s Hockey Alliance) to close out the year. In their first matchup ever, the Hawks traveled to Conte Forum for an afternoon game against the Eagles on Saturday.
The Eagles held Saint Anselm scoreless until the final minutes of the game, and secured a comfortable 5–1 win behind Sammy Taber’s standout performance.
Taber first put BC ahead 1–0, after lifting the puck over the shoulder of Hawks’ goaltender, Courtney Stagman.
With two goals and two assists on Saturday alone, Taber leads the entire team with a total of 20 points.
The Hawks were handed the first two power plays of the afternoon, but fell short at capitalizing on both.
With three minutes left in the first period, BC had its chance with an advantage of its own. While the Hawks killed the power play, Abby Newhook quickly responded. At the 19:17 mark, Newhook’s nifty stick-handling freed herself up for a clear path to the back of the net to give the Eagles a two-goal lead. Taber assisted on Newhook’s goal.
With just 15 seconds remaining in the period, referees called a penalty on Saint Anselm’s Maddy McCaffery for roughing, closing out the first period and sending BC into the second frame on the advantage.
At the start of the second period, BC head coach Katie Crowley replaced Grace Campbell with Bailey Callaway in the crease. The officials also placed a bench penalty on Saint Anselm for delaying the game, giving BC a 5-on-3 man advantage.
Another power play expired without BC finding the back of the net, though, and the game returned to even strength. In the minutes following, Julia Pellerin went forehand-backhand on her own to send the puck past Stagman and further the Eagles lead to three goals.
The Eagles continued to tire the Hawks’ legs and dominate on the ice. Between the first two frames, BC overpowered the visiting team 36–12 in shots on goal.
With a second left, Caroline Goffredo got BC its second goal of the period. Thanks once again to an assist by Taber, Goffredo potted another goal to send BC into the third period up 4–0.
Buzzing off the energy of their lead, the Eagles killed another penalty within the first six minutes of the final period.
The chemistry between Goffredo and Taber continued from there. At the 9:30 mark, Goffredo managed to keep the puck inside the blue line and hand it over to Taber, who was waiting net-side to find her second goal and make it a 5–0 game.
BC couldn’t hold the shutout for the whole game, though. With less than two minutes left in the game, Audrey Jackson sent the puck under the crossbar behind Callaway to end the shutout and give the Hawks a goal of their own to make it 5–1.
The Hawks closed out the game with a power play, but were unable to add to their momentum, as BC closed out 2023 with a win.
