GOAL BY GOAL: BC Women’s Hockey Advances To Hockey East Semifinals With 1-0 Win Over Merrimack

It wasn’t the high-flying effort the Eagles came out with on Thursday afternoon, but Boston College was able to get the job done.

Friday afternoon, the Eagles completed a two game sweep of Merrimack in the Hockey East quarterfinals with their second straight shutout in a 1-0 victory.

Boston College Goal #1 (GWG): 13:01 of the 1st period
Megan Keller (Andie Anastos, Serena Sommerfield)

BC 1, MC 0 — FINAL

BC got its only goal early on. Megan Keller, who is starting to make a pretty compelling Patty Kazmaier Award case, started the breakout with a pass along the boards, and then took it right back on the feed from Anastos to head into the Merrimack end. She takes a shot from the faceoff dot to beat Samantha Ridgwell... and that was the only goal the Eagles could find all afternoon.

That’s not to say the Eagles played poorly. BC shot out of a cannon in the first several minutes. Merrimack didn’t get its first shot on goal until the first period was half over, and the Eagles scored soon after that. From that point on, BC looked like it was ready to take a nap. Merrimack never truly threatened, and any opportunities were quickly smothered by Katie Burt.

BC’s series is the first in the country to be completed, thanks to the early start to the series. They’ll take on the lowest remaining seed in the Hockey East semifinals next weekend at Walter Brown Arena in Boston. As the #1 seed, BC’s semifinal should take place at 1:30pm on Saturday.

With 8 days until The Eagles will surely welcome the long break, as there are several players nursing some aches and pains — and Makenna Newkirk, just back with the team after a long time away due to injury, gave the team another scare at the end of the second period, but was back on the ice for at least one other shift before the game ended.