BC Women’s Hockey Forward Caitrin Lonergan Transferring To Clarkson

The Boston College Women’s Hockey offense was dealt a big blow today as star forward Caitrin Lonergan announced on social media that she will be transferring to Clarkson for her senior season.

Lonergan was an offensive force for the Eagles in her three years on the Heights. She had a hot start as a freshman, leading all rookies in scoring in the 2016-2017 season with a 15-18—33 line, but she really exploded as a sophomore after an intense offseason of training. In the 2017-2018 season she put up insane numbers (30-45—75 in 38 games) and was named a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist, and probably could have won it with her 1.97 PPG had her own teammate Daryl Watts not taken the trophy home herself. This past season, Lonergan was relied on as a centerpiece of one of BC’s scoring lines thanks to her offensive prowess.

Lonergan had a habit of scoring some pretty goals. The last goal Lonergan scored in maroon and gold — a game-tying tally in the Hockey East championship game — was a beauty...

...and her cutting, diving score against UConn actually won the 2017 BCI GIF of the Year competition:

Losing Lonergan to Clarkson is a huge blow for BC’s offense in the upcoming season. The Eagles are going to need to rely on their scoring to carry the team, especially early in the season with several freshmen being slotted into the blue line thanks to graduation losses, so losing a former Patty Kaz finalist is really going to sting. Just as bad is that Lonergan was by all accounts a good person from a good family, and she loved to be active in the girls’ hockey community as a youth coach. Losing someone from the team that young girls look up to as a role model hurts.

Nonetheless, if a player doesn’t feel that a school is a good fit, she is right to do what she can to be happy. With all the control and restrictions the NCAA has over these players, any opportunity a player has to take control of their own lives to do what they feel is best for themselves is a good thing. And that’s particularly true in sports that don’t have multi-million dollar paydays waiting for the players once they leave.

Best of luck to Caitrin on the next chapter in her collegiate career — we’ll certainly miss her in Chestnut Hill.