Over the weekend, No. 17 Boston College field hockey took care of business on two fronts, defeating cross-town rivals Boston University and Northeastern.
In Sunday’s matchup against BU (1–1), the Eagles’ (2–0) offense started the game with a dominant offensive showing against their Comm Ave. rivals, ultimately defeating the Terriers 6–0 in a dominant showing.
Just over two minutes into the contest, BC’s Mia Garber tallied BC’s first goal of the game. And two minutes later, Hale scored off a penalty corner with 10:02 left to play in the first quarter, bringing the score to 2–0
Of BC’s six goals in the matchup, five of them came from different scorers.
Less than five minutes into the second quarter, Martina Giacchino swept the ball into the back of BU’s goal off a Eva Kluskens pass, making it a 3–0 game. Just 6:46 later, Pia Serowik tipped the ball off a Yani Zhong assist and into the net—marking Serowik’s second career goal.
As time continued to come off the clock, the Eagles only seemed to be heating up offensively. And that only intensified when the Eagles closed out their second quarter with another score following a Madelief Granjean goal with less than four minutes left to play in the first half.
Entering halftime with a 5–0 lead, the Eagles had outshot the Terriers 16–2 within the first 30 minutes of play.
Hale managed to score BC’s last goal of the game 8:13 into the third frame to put the game away. All the while, BU continued to struggle to create any scoring opportunities on Sunday afternoon.
What defined the game was not only BC’s ability to generate scoring plays, but the number of corners the teams had—18 of the 22 corner opportunities in the game belonged to the Eagles.
The shutout victory concluded with the Eagles tallying 34 shots, while the Terriers racked up just five shots on goal.
In 2023, No. 17 Boston College field hockey defeated Northeastern 4–3—thanks to a Peyton Hale goal in the final two minutes of regulation. In the Eagles’ first game of the 2024 season on Friday night, Hale delivered a familiar fate to the Huskies, delivering BC its first goal of the season, and ultimately helping hand the Huskies their first loss of the season.
Following Hale’s goal, the Eagles (1–0)tacked on two more goals, ultimately taking down Northeastern (0–1) 3–1.
“I’m happy with their effort and getting in the win,” BC head coach Kelly Doton said.
All three of the Eagles’ goals came within the first quarter of the game.
“I still think we have some things to fix, and it’s still early on in the season,” Doton said. “I think we have gotten better from our first two scrimmages, and I think we had intensity on defense in the first and second quarter.”
Just six minutes into the game, Madelieve Drion launched a pass to a cutting Hale. Juking her defender swiftly, Hale fired a shot into the back of Northeastern’s goal and past the Huskies’ Kristi Merashoff.
But the Eagles were not done yet.
Less than two minutes later, Zhong delivered another BC goal off a Giacchino assist—propelling the Eagles to a 2–0 lead.
Northeastern eventually responded with just 40 seconds left in the first half. Off a Caroline Sweeney goal from Lauren Rowe assist, BC saw their lead get cut in half.
With less than five minutes left to play in the second quarter, Zhong launched her second goal of the game into the back of the Huskies net—marking the last score of the game.
For the rest of the game BC and Northeastern played a game of back-in-forth over possession and ball control.
“I think we came out of the gates in the third quarter a little lackadaisical,” Doton said. “I think in the fourth quarter, we fixed some things, moved some players around, and we finished the game strong with a win.”
After the game, Doton described what her team was missing in their game against Northeastern.
“I think we need to fix that defensive presence, just the consistency of it,” Doton said. “I say that word a lot, and I think we are a very good team when we are consistent, and when we are not consistent, we can be a very bad team quickly.”
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