After suffering a 7–1 loss on Friday to 2023–24 NCAA runner-up Wisconsin, Boston College women’s hockey’s Saturday night rematch against the Badgers showed little improvement. In fact, the second half of the Eagles’ weekend went worse.
The Eagles (1–2) suffered a shutout at the hands of the Badgers (4–0) on Saturday night in Conte Forum. BC netminder Bailey Callaway made her first career start, tallying 54 saves in an attempt to limit the Badgers’ offense. But the Eagles were outshot 61–13, and the one-sided tilt ended in the Eagles’ first scoreless game of the season.
“They came out stronger than we did,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said after the game. “You can’t give a team like that that many power plays.”
BC came out in the first period eager to avenge its loss from the previous night, and the Eagles came out firing, getting off five shots in the first five minutes.
Callaway made some key saves in the first period to keep things even, tallying two consecutive saves at the 7:53 mark.
But the Badgers broke through 11 seconds later when Lacey Eden slammed home a goal off a rebound.
The Badgers continued to generate consistent offensive pressure and gave the Eagles little time and space. The Eagles found themselves shorthanded with a minute remaining in the first period after a delay of game penalty from Sammy Taber.
BC killed the first penalty and escaped the first period down one goal. But the shot count after the first period was 21–6, favoring the Badgers.
The second period is when things really started to unravel for BC. The Eagles found themselves shorthanded once again after an interference call against Alanna Devlin. This time, the Badgers capitalized on the advantage. Caroline Harvey ripped a shot that went top shelf to extend Wisconsin’s lead.
The game continued to spiral for the Eagles as the Badgers scored two more goals in three minutes. A passing play between Wisconsin’s Katie Kotlowski, Casey O’Brien, and Kirsten Simms led to a goal on a 2-on-1 that gave the Badgers a 5–0 lead. They were able to extend the lead to six before the end of the second period with a goal from O’Brien.
“There were too many turnovers in the neutral zone,” Crowley said. “If we put one in early, I think it changes the game a little bit. Once you get down there it’s hard to keep going, but I was happy with the way we battled and continued to fight through the 60 minutes. We just have to make quicker plays.”
The third period saw much of the same dominance from the Badgers, and there was some chippiness that resulted in penalties on both teams. The Badgers added a final goal from Sarah Wozniewicz after a defensive turnover in front of the Eagles’ net gave her an open look.
