With playoff positioning on the line, Boston College women’s hockey secured a 5–2 victory over New Hampshire on Friday afternoon to open the final weekend of its regular season.
The Eagles (15–17–1, 13–9–1 Hockey East) entered fresh off a 1–0 overtime victory over Northeastern, which marked their first win over the then-No. 5 Huskies this season.
“We knew this is a big one and these points are big, and we wanted to really carry Sunday’s game from last week into this weekend and then keep going through playoffs,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said.
BC started strong, maintaining possession for the majority of the first frame and racking up 14 shots on goal.
About nine minutes into the frame, freshman defender Madelyn Murphy was sent to the sin bin for tripping, and UNH (16–14–3, 10–11–2) took the power play. The Wildcats have been relatively successful on the power play, converting 21.7 percent into goals.
Despite surrendering six shots over the penalty kill, Kiera Dempsey blocked one attempt, and goaltender Grace Campbell turned aside the other five to keep the Wildcats scoreless. Like she did last weekend, Campbell anchored BC, turning aside 13 shots in the first period alone.
Back on even strength, BC took the lead after Olivia Maffeo notched her ninth goal of the season, 13:36 into the first. The sophomore defender tipped the puck in off a pass from Emma Conner, putting the Eagles up 1–0.
The matchup marked the third meeting between the teams this season, with the series split 1–1 after a January weekend that featured a 4–1 BC win and a 6–2 UNH victory.
“We focused on coming out a little bit more hungry to win 50-50 battles and to make better plays than we did, and kind of take care of our zone a little bit better,” Crowley said. “I think we did that today.”
At the 16:28 mark, less than three minutes after BC’s first goal, Conner rode the momentum and shot another puck home, securing a 2–0 BC lead.
“I think even last time we played UNH, it was kind of a chippy game, so I think it was staying under control,” Conner said. “Using a little bit of our physicality to our advantage.”
The tide turned as the Wildcats went on the power play. The Eagles seemed immobile on defense, and Josie Linn skated around them to put UNH on the board with 1:45 left in the first frame.
BC got its first power-play opportunity of the afternoon 8:59 into the second period, and immediately came out swinging. Sammy Taber and Maffeo got off good looks, but were stopped by UNH goaltender Noemi Martinez.
The already physical game reached a boiling point when Conner was penalized for tripping, which would have cut BC’s advantage short. But UNH’s Sadie Makokis was given a 10-minute major for a contact-to-the-head penalty.
The game paused for a media break. As soon as play resumed, now in a 4-on-3 situation, Taber found the back of the net off a Maffeo assist. With the Eagles leading 3–1, the third frame was BC’s to lose.
Despite maintaining possession for the opening five minutes and dominating with 10 shots in the first 5:27, Maxim Tremblay logged BC’s fourth penalty of the game, and UNH’s Nina Rossi promptly closed the deficit to 3–2 with a power-play goal.
But Conner responded, scoring her second goal of the game 14:12 into the final frame and putting the game out of reach for UNH 4–2. After Martinez denied Alaina Dunn’s initial shot, Conner corralled the rebound and stuffed it in to give BC a cushion.
The Eagles held up for the next few minutes, and the Wildcats pulled Martinez with 3:53 to play. Lauren Glaser immediately took advantage, breezing past the Wildcats’ defense and sliding the puck into the open net to give BC a 5–2 win.
“I’m happy that there are a lot of different lines involved, and a lot of different people involved in the scoring,” Crowley said.
