After three straight losses—including the first loss in program history to Holy Cross and tough consecutive losses to No. 1 Wisconsin—Boston College women’s hockey’s season had gotten off to a 1–3 start.
Since then, however, the Eagles have won three straight games—the best of which came on Saturday night, when they knocked off No. 3 Clarkson 4–2.
“We had a really great week,” Gaby Roy said prior to the matchup. “We can practice focusing on the offensive zone and defensive zone. I think that this week in this game really showed that we are able to put them together and make them work as a whole puzzle.”
The Eagles (4–3–0, 2–1–0 Hockey East) were able to put the puzzle together on Saturday and knock off the Golden Knights (6–1–0), who came into the matchup undefeated.
Clarkson applied pressure to the Eagles defense to begin the game, with five shots on goal in the first ten minutes. BC held strong, denying Clarkson’s hopes of gaining an early lead.
The Golden Knights killed BC’s first power play opportunity at the 5:47 mark.
But five minutes later, Julia Pellerin put the Eagles on the board with an unassisted goal into the back of Clarkson’s net—Pellerin’s first of the season.
“I heard some people behind me yelling, like, ‘Pelly Go Pelly Go,’” Pellerin said. “Initially I was thinking I was going to be more reserved and stay back as a [defender], but I stepped and saw the puck in the air and just thought, why not catch it … I said ‘alright, let’s shoot, see what happens.’”
At the 19:20 mark, Clarkson forward Baylee Kirwan put a shot in off the BC cross-bar to even the score. The goal was assisted by Rebecca Morissette and Bridget Stevenson. Despite Clarkson outshooting the Eagles 22 to 11 in the first period, the game went into the second frame knotted 1–1.
It didn’t stay that way for long, though, as Sammy Taber netted a goal on the power play just 20 seconds into the second period, pushing the score back in BC’s favor. Abby Newhook and Molly Jordan were credited for the assists.
The Golden Knights got two power play opportunities in the second period, but the Eagles killed both as goaltender Grace Campbell stopped six pucks through the frame.
“Today felt like one of her best games of [Campbell’s] collegiate career,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “I thought Grace was phenomenal in this game. That’s how she can play. We know she’s a very good goaltender and I thought she showed that today. That’s what we need. After BC killed a Clarkson power play about fifteen minutes into the period, Roy stepped up to cement the win. Off a pass from Olivia Maffeo, Roy scored a goal to extend BC’s lead to two.
“Celebrate it,” Roy said. “Do what you want to do to recover, and just come back and do the same exact thing tomorrow. But even harder.”
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