Despite beating Boston University last night 3–0 in Walter Brown Arena, Boston College women’s hockey could not deliver another shutout against the Terriers—or even a win.
The exact outcome from Friday’s game flipped in favor of BU on Saturday.
“It wasn’t our best day,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “You know, I think it took us until they scored their third goal to really start playing and that’s not how you can go about it in our league and in hockey right now. I’m a little disappointed with the way we came out. I’m happy that we fought until the end. But you know, we got out-battled today. They were a better team than us today.”
The roles reversed as BU (12–14–3, 10–11–1) flipped the script and shut the Eagles (14–9–6, 13–5–4 Hockey East) out 3–0 in Conte Forum. BC only recorded 19 shots on goal, while BU rattled off 31.
With less than three minutes left to play in the first period, the Eagles picked up their first power play of the afternoon after BU’s Nadia Mattivi was called for cross checking. But instead of converting on the power play, BC lost the puck to the Terriers. BU’s Liv Haag grabbed the puck from BC goaltender Grace Campbell, skated around the goal, and fired a short-handed goal into the back of BC’s net with 1:26 remaining.
“Obviously, a tough short-handed goal we gave up,” Crowley said. “I think there was just a little bit of a miscommunication there and, yeah, that was a tough one. I’d say that was probably the biggest turning point in the game. I think it deflated us a little bit.”
The Eagles offensive troubles continued for the rest of the first period, entering the second frame trailing by a goal.
“I think obviously they’re a team that can capitalize on opportunities, and we just had some opportunities in our first period that we didn’t capitalize on,” Crowley said.
Following a BU goal with 10:49 left to play in the second period, the Eagles challenged the goal, and the referees overturned the goal, bringing BC back to a one-goal deficit.
“I was hoping that was going to give us a little jump and a little bit of like, you know, let’s get going and give us an opportunity to get going, but it just couldn’t get done,” Crowley said. “That’s when you see what your team is made of. And we need to work on that side of it.”
Emotions grew high in Conte after the overturned goal, as BU fans disagreed with the call, and the Terriers closed out the second frame up by only one goal.
It wasn’t until the third period of the game when the scoreboard began to light up, as BU began firing shot after shot in Campbell’s direction.
Less than a minute after an Eagles’ power play ended, BU’s Christina Vote received the puck from Mattivi, swung back her stick, and fired a shot past Campbell into the back of BC’s net to give BU a two-score lead 4:06 into the third period.
Vote’s goal further intensified the rivalry, as her brother, BC men’s hockey’s Will Vote plays for the other Comm. Ave hockey powerhouse.
But BU wasn’t done quite yet.
Less than five minutes later, BU put another goal on the board. After BC’s Morgan Trimper was called for body checking, the Terriers found another opportunity to convert on a power play. BU did just that, as Lacey Martin scored her 13th goal of the season.
Despite notching six shots on BU’s net after Martin’s goal, BC couldn’t turn any of them into goals as goaltender Callie Shanahan made save after save.
“When you get a score opportunity, when you get a break away, when you get a two-on-one opportunity, you need to find a way to put it into the net,” Crowley said. “I thought we had plenty of those opportunities even when we weren’t playing great. And, you know, we need to find a way to bury those.”
After a shootout loss to the Terriers in the Beanpot semifinals on Jan. 16, the Eagles sought redemption. They earned that on Friday night, but could not say the same for Saturday afternoon.
“We have to be a little bit more ready for the battle,” Crowley said. “I mean yesterday we were and we won a lot more puck battles and one-on-one battles. Today, I feel like it was the complete opposite where they won all the battles. I think we need to be a little bit more ready for that.”
