Coming straight out of the gate, Boston College women’s hockey seemed trapped in its defensive zone, unable to generate many chances.
The shots on goal stood at one for BC (5–3–0, 2–1–0 Hockey East) to 12 for No. 3 Clarkson (6–2–0) eight minutes into Saturday afternoon’s game.
But the Eagles survived those offensive woes and ultimately defeated the Golden Knights 4–3.
BC had some solid clears after a slashing penalty from Keri Clougherty to keep the slate clean during its penalty kill. But with 9:58 remaining in the first period, Clarkson’s Jenna Goodwin netted a backhand breakaway goal to crack the scoreless tie.
The Eagles started to pick up the pace, allowing Abby Newhook to sneak her way through the dots for a shot off the pads. The puck found its way to Molly Jordan who cleaned things up for her second goal of the year to make it a 1–1 game just above the four-minute mark.
BC headed into the first intermission with greater control of the matchup, but the second period remained relatively quiet for both sides.
“I thought that was a struggle period for us,” head coach Katie Crowley said. “[Clarkson’s] hard to play against. They’re fast, they have some really, really good players, some high-end talent.”
Goaltender Grace Campbell kept it shut down in the crease, stopping all of Clarkson’s 15 shots in the second period—including a SportsCenter Top Ten-worthy save with 20 seconds remaining to keep the game knotted up.
“I don’t know why I dove, really,” Campbell said. “I was just thinking, there’s 10 seconds left … and everyone else was battling in front of the net. So it’s hard not to want to battle, too.”
A quiet second period translated into a scoring frenzy in the first six minutes of play in the third period.
Clarkson’s Rhea Hicks received a centering pass and slipped one through the bottom-right corner for a 2–1 lead. Then, after a cross-checking call on BC’s Jade Arnone, the Golden Knights added their third goal behind Anne Cherkowski’s bottom-left snipe.
It didn’t take long for the Eagles to respond—cutting Clarkson’s lead in half via Katie Pyne’s wraparound tuck just 30 seconds after.
“As soon as Katie got that goal, we were like, ‘All right, this is our turn,’” Julia Pellerin said in reaction to Pyne’s goal. “And there was an energy switch on the bench.”
Nearing the halfway mark of the third period, Gaby Roy delivered a goal from the left side to even the game back up at 3–3.
BC then found itself with a 5-on-3 opportunity. All the momentum had shifted in their favor after scoring two unanswered, but the Eagles were unable to capitalize.
Just four minutes later, though, Pellerin snagged the puck midair and went on to slide one through the five-hole on a breakaway to give BC a 4–3 lead with 2:25 left in the third.
“I think that our team hasn’t been given the respect we deserve,” Pellerin said. “I think it’s just us putting our name back where it deserves. We’re not upsetting other people. We’re just winning.”
