When asked what No. 11 Boston College women’s hockey’s mentality was going into its matchup against No. 14 UConn on Friday—the squad that downed the Eagles 2–1 in the Hockey East Tournament last season—Lauren Glaser kept it simple.
“I knew coming into this game there was going to be a chip on our shoulder, and I feel like we came out ready to go for that,” Glaser said.
And BC (10–4, 7–2 Hockey East) did just that in their Friday afternoon matchup against the Huskies (8–7, 7–3). Off two Glaser goals and one Julia Pellerin goal, the Eagles took the first game of the series 3–2 in front of a home Conte Forum crowd.
“I thought our team played great,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “We know how defensive that team can be, and we have to be patient and poised with the puck. Especially after last Saturday, you know, not playing the way we wanted to play, to come in and play this way and beat a good team, I was really happy with them.”
But it wasn’t completely smooth sailing for the Eagles, as they trailed for much of the matchup.
It wasn’t until a little less than ten minutes left in the game when BC clenched the lead for the first time.
Beginning in the first frame, it appeared to be an even keeled battle between the Eagles and the Huskies.
That was until UConn ran away with the lead.
A little less than eight minutes into the game, the Huskies were on the board first. Sliding the puck past BC’s Grace Campbell, Claire Murdoch gave UConn a one-goal lead.
Murdoch’s goal marked the beginning of a BC back-and-forth chase for the lead.
A little over six minutes later in the first period, the first-year standout, Glaser, brought life to BC’s offense.
After receiving a pass from Keri Clougherty, Glaser rattled off a lower right-hand corner shot that sailed through the legs of Megan Warrener and landed in the back of the net.
“The first one was awesome. Like an awesome feeling. I was just trying to get it on the net, but it ended up going in and it was an awesome feeling,” Glaser said.
Following BC’s first goal of the matchup, the remaining part of the first frame was relatively silent, with the Eagles tallying 16 shots and the Huskies registering 14 shots during the first 20 minutes of play.
And it took some time for the next goal of the matchup—almost 20 minutes.
UConn was the first to attack, making the score to 2–1 after a one-on-one got the better of Campbell, who was unable to come up with the save.
Despite Campbell working overtime for the next few minutes, Pellerin delivered for her team off a Molly Jordan assist, knotting the score with a little less than three minutes to play in the second frame.
Within the third frame, the only goal that was scored was Glaser’s second of the afternoon, propelling the Eagles to a 3–2 victory.
Following the game, Glaser described her reaction to her game-winning goal.
“With the second one, I was just so shocked it came out to me, and I was like ‘I can’t miss this, I have to get it,” Glaser said.
Given her team’s Friday afternoon performance against an up-and-coming Hockey East rivalry, Crowley remains optimistic for what is to come.
“I mean hopefully we can get a power play tomorrow,” Crowley said. “We have to stay poised and stay patient. I’m really proud of how our team handled being patient. There are some things that we implemented yesterday and they were able to perform those things today.”
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