GOAL BY GOAL: BC Women’s Hockey Earns Massive 4-1 Win Over #3 Northeastern

Boston College Women’s Hockey was forced to play in the consolation game of this year’s Beanpot, but you’d never know the Eagles weren’t playing for a trophy. It wasn’t quite a perfect effort — the Eagles aren’t going to win many games in which they take NINE PENALTIES — but the Eagles played extremely well five on five, and special teams showed up in a big way.

Freshman goaltender Maddy McArthur was the star for the Eagles on all those penalty kills, and the offense scored when it needed to for the 4-1 win against the 3rd-ranked Northeastern Huskies.

Boston College Goal #1: 5:47 of the 1st period
Megan Keller (Caitrin Lonergan, Ryan Little)

BC 1, NU 0

Truthfully, the first two periods were kind of a mess from a game flow perspective. Both teams took a ton of penalties, with BC in particular spending an eternity in the penalty box. But before the first referee arm went up, the Eagles were able to find a goal to open up the scoring.

Ryan Little and Caitrin Lonergan move the puck pretty well, and Lonergan is able to survey the play before she finds Megan Keller at the faceoff dot. Keller rips the shot home for the goal, and that was the only scoring of the first.

Northeastern Goal #1: 3:04 of the 2nd period
Veronika Pettey (Alina Mueller, Kasidy Anderson)

BC 1, NU 1

The rest of the first and the beginning of the second period were a penalty fest, and Northeastern was finally able to break through Maddy McArthur, who was easily BC’s best penalty killer.

The goal didn’t technically come on the power play, but it was a PPG for all intents and purposes. The shot from Alina Mueller is deflected in on McArthur and never does make it all the way through, meaning McArthur is going to have a tough time getting over to the other side of the net. Pettey races in to smack home the puck, tying the game at 1-1.

Boston College Goal #2 (PPG, GWG): 4:27 of the 2nd period
Daryl Watts (Makenna Newkirk, Serena Sommerfield)

BC 2, NU 1

But the Eagles re-took the lead just over a minute later on a power play goal.

This goal is vintage Daryl Watts. The Daryl Watts of 2017-2018 picked corners almost every time she was on the ice, and that’s what she does that here. She gets possession at the faceoff dot, and delays just long enough so that a few bodies come into the picture to aid in screening the net. She picks a target and doesn’t miss, nailing the corner at the far post for the 2-1 lead.

Boston College Goal #3: 4:13 of the 3rd period
Kelly Browne (Ryan Little)

BC 3, NU 1

The penalties settled down a bit in the third period, and with more 5 on 5 and more game flow brought some of BC’s best hockey of the game. Third period shots were 17-7 BC, and they were rewarded with a couple goals to put the game away.

Freshman Kelly Browne scores BC’s first of the frame after a steal of the puck behind the net from Ryan Little. The Harvard player who had her pocket picked is left in no-woman’s-land, and Little’s got plenty of time to make a play. She’s got a player out front for her to send the puck out to, and Browne one-times it for the insurance goal.

Boston College Goal #4: 8:27 of the 3rd period
Daryl Watts (Cayla Barnes)

BC 4, NU 1

More of that vintage Daryl Watts to really put the game away. Watts takes possession of the puck across the red line thanks to a neutral zone turnover, and she skates hard into the zone. She’s got a teammate to back pass to if she wants it, but Watts is really feeling it lately and she apparently likes what she has to shoot out.

It’s just what the Eagles want to see out of their Patty Kazmaier Award-winning sophomore, and the 4-1 lead is plenty for BC to cruise to the win from there.

Needless to say, a win over the 3rd ranked team in the country is just massive for BC’s postseason hopes, but there’s still two more weekends left to play in the regular season. The Eagles have a strange schedule this week with a pair against Maine at Conte Forum on Thursday and Friday evening. They’ll look to continue their strong run of play and see if they can’t gain some ground on the teams above them in the Pairwise.