No. 15 Boston College women’s hockey started down in its game against Vermont, as just 5:24 into the game the Eagles watched the lamp light behind goalie Grace Cambell after a powerplay goal from Lara Beecher.
But BC didn’t get rattled.
The Eagles answered with seven goals from seven different players, clinching a decisive 7–1 victory over Vermont and giving themselves some positive momentum after back-to-back losses last week.
“I think sometimes it takes a loss like that to really get us going,” said Molly Jordan. “But I’m really impressed with the whole team and it was really good for us to come back today.”
BC (18–10–1, 14–7–1 Hockey East) was desperate for a win tonight to turn the tide as they faced off against Vermont (6–21–2, 5–15–2) in a Hockey East matchup. The Eagles tried some new lines and tuned in on moving up the ice as a unit—both of those things contributed to a 7–1 victory on Thursday night in Conte Forum.
Already Down 1–0, the Eagles faced another minor penalty at 8:42, this time on Tricia Piku for slashing. They stayed strong defensively this time, killing the penalty.
Vermont followed with a penalty of its own, as Ezra Oien got called for holding. The Eagles did not let the man-up opportunity pass them by, as they immediately got into an offensive formation to try and tie the score.
It worked, as a long pass from Jade Arnone gave Gaby Roy the perfect opening to tip it in at 14:14.
“I think with our team being a younger team, sometimes it takes them a bit to recover from a goal like that, but I thought today we really handled it well,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “The way we responded offensively—we were really aggressive on our forecheck, we found those soft areas and were just able to make some of those goals that were really, really nice.”
Following this goal, BC seemed to hit its stride, playing a much more aggressive game which opened them up to take more shots on Catamount goalie Sydney Correa. They ended the first up 12–2 in shots on goal.
When pinpointing what changed for the team in this game, Crowley emphasized that they talked about not rushing up the ice in search of breakaways as much, and instead moving into the offensive zone together, as a team.
The Eagles did not let up coming into the second period, as Arnone scored just 26 seconds into the frame off an assist from Kate Ham.
BC dominated possession, forcing Vermont onto the defensive for the vast majority of the period. That ended in the Eagles taking six more shots on goal within the first five minutes of the second, while Vermont stayed stuck at two.
Then, at the 5:23 mark, Olivia Maffeo got possession of the puck on a two-on-one rush and laid out a snapshot that sank past Correa, putting BC up 3–1.
Another minor penalty for holding on Vermont’s Blaise-Savoie gave the Eagles another chance to extend their lead. Sammy Taber received a pass from Molly Jordan and rocketed it across the goal to Katie Pyne, who tipped it in at 9:08.
Even when BC faced a penalty of its own, they maintained strong defensively, and even gave Taber a one-on-one opportunity for a short handed goal against Vermont, which was ultimately saved by Corerra.
With just three minutes left on the clock, Taber picked up her second assist of the night. She sent the puck to Ham, who passed it to Jordan for one last goal to end the second period and put the Eagles up by four heading into the final frame.
There wasn’t much change in the third, as BC continued to dominate offensively despite Vermont’s increasing physicality. Pyne and Piku got the puck to Newhook, and she delivered yet another goal for the Eagles at the 6:18 mark.
Just when it seemed like the Eagles might be done, Taber passed it to Ham who shot it high, only for it to rebound off the glass and bounce off the goalies back for BC’s seventh, and final, goal of the night at 8:11.
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